Public servants 'will be punished for wrongdoing' under Hillsborough law

Public servants who deliberately cover up state-related disasters will face up to two years in jail under a new Hillsborough law, David Lammy has promised, following concerns from campaigners that it could be watered down.

- Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

Writing in the Guardian, the deputy prime minister and lord chancellor said legislation would ensure that state actors from “the bobby on the beat to the highest office in the land” would face “serious punishments for serious wrongdoing”.

The long-awaited Public Office (Accountability) bill will be introduced to parliament today after months of wrangling between lawyers for the Hillsborough families and officials.

It means that ministers, senior civil servants and chief constables who mislead the public could be dragged before the courts and imprisoned, Whitehall sources said.

Keir Starmer had previously pledged to introduce the legislation by the 36th anniversary of the tragedy, which was on 15 April, but Downing Street then said more time was needed to redraft it.

Some campaigners raised fears the bill's contents had been diluted and would not include a legal duty of candour.

Lammy wrote: “This law ... includes a new professional and legal duty of candour. When something has gone badly wrong, public servants - from the bobby on the beat to the highest office in the land - will be under a duty to act with honesty and integrity at all times. Anyone who fails to do so faces criminal prosecution.