The new Hillsborough Law will include a legal duty of candour, the prime minister has said, after concerns were raised that the government wanted to “water down” its scope.
Sir Keir Starmer told the House of Commons he was “fully committed” to bringing in legislation which would force public officials to tell the truth at major inquiries, with “criminal sanctions for those that refuse to comply”.
Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne has made a fresh parliamentary bid to drive through the original Hillsborough Law amid suggestions the duty of candour element had been removed from a draft of the bill.
But Sir Keir insisted: “We will bring this forward – I just want to take the time to get it right.”
A terrace crush during the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium fatally injured 97 Liverpool supporters.
Labour MP Byrne, then 16 years old, was at the stadium that day.
He said: “The law cannot bring back the 97, it cannot erase the decades of pain, nor undo the trauma inflicted by callous lies and institutional neglect.
“But it can stop this from ever happening again – it can give truth, a fight for justice, and restore some of the faith lost, not just in the system but in the very idea of justice.”
He urged Sir Keir not to “let this moment slip away” and to “honour the 97, not just with remembrance, but with change” .
In 2016, after a 27-year campaign by victims’ families, an inquest jury ruled fans were not to blame for the disaster and that those who died had been unlawfully killed.
The original Hillsborough Law, first presented in 2017, included a legal responsibility for public servants to tell the truth after state-related disasters.
Legal funding would also be provided for those affected by them.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, another of Liverpool’s Labour MPs, Kim Johnson, accused ministers of planning to table a “watered down” bill which “doesn’t deserve to be named Hillsborough Law”.
The Liverpool Riverside MP said Sir Keir had visited her constituency in 2022 and told families the legislation would be one of his first acts in government.
She asked him to “honour his promise and back the law in full”.
Responding, the prime minister said: “This is a really serious issue, it is important that we get it right.
“I am fully committed to introducing a Hillsborough Law, including a legal duty of candour for public servants and criminal sanctions for those that refuse to comply.”
Sir Keir said he had been “personally engaging” on the subject and stressed that he had been involved for more than 10 years due to his previous role as director of public prosecutions.
“We will bring this forward,” he added. “I just want to take the time to get it right and then put it before the house.”