Burden of seeking justice must rest with the system

One of the Bill's architects, Elkan Abrahamson of law firm Broudie Jackson Canter, said there is still some way to go before the Bill becomes law.

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He said: “We will now scrutinise the Bill as it makes its passage through Parliament, so we're not quite there yet.

“But today is still a momentous step, owed entirely to the persistence of campaigners and their refusal to give up. The Hillsborough Law will transform the face of British justice.”

Sue Roberts, whose brother Graham was unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, described the Bill's introduction as “a huge step in the right direction” but said the families will be “watching closely to ensure this Bill is passed in its entirety and enacted in full”.

She added: “The Government must resist any pressure from those who don't believe the public deserves to know the truth about when the state fails.”

Among what the Government has described as the “seismic changes” as part of the Bill are the biggest expansion of legal aid in a decade for bereaved families, with non-means tested help and support for inquests.