Major step forward for Hillsborough law

BILL GRANTED SECOND READING BEFORE PARLIAMENT AFTER DEBATE

- By DAVID HUMPHREYS AND EMILY CARUBIA

A landmark Hillsborough Law has taken a massive step forward after it was granted a second reading before Parliament.

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill was debated by MPs when they met yesterday afternoon. This represented the first meaningful opportunity for elected politicians to debate the contents of the bill. It was at last laid before Parliament for the first time in September.

Introduced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the landmark legislation would hold public officials and authorities accountable for their actions with a new professional and legal duty of candour - meaning they must act with honesty and integrity at all times or face criminal sanctions if they attempt to cover up the facts behind disasters.

Addressing the Commons, Sir Keir Starmer said the British state "failed" the families and victims of the Hillsborough football disaster, adding those who died were "unlawfully killed".

The Prime Minister paid tribute to the families who had campaigned for the truth behind what caused the death of 97 football fans as a result of a crush at the FA Cup semifinal in Sheffield in 1989.

Introducing the Bill, the Prime Minister said: "I want to begin this debate with a simple acknowledgement, long overdue. That the British state failed the families and victims of Hillsborough to an almost inhuman level.

"Those victims and their families, their strength, their courage, their refusal to give up, a determination no matter what was thrown at them to fight for people they'll never know or meet, to make sure that they never go through something like this again.