Families waiting for Hillsborough Law brand leak to newspaper over announcement as 'unspeakably cruel'
Confidential Hillsborough Law report leaked to newspaper before families of victims could be consulted
News an announcement is coming over the long-awaited Hillsborough Law was leaked to a national newspaper before families of victims were made aware - in a move branded “unspeakably cruel”.
The 2025 anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster was overshadowed by the Labour government fumbling a commitment to ‘The Hillsborough Law.’
Families were promised that last year’s memorial would also be the announcement of a ‘duty of candour’ law for public bodies - essentially requiring organisations to tell the truth during investigations or face criminal sanctions.
This is currently the case for the NHS, but not the police or several other public bodies.
However, things turned sour when PM Keir Starmer announced a delay while parliament argued about if the law would extend to spy bosses, such as for MI5.
Families said they could not support it if the Government would effectively give spy chiefs a veto on telling the truth.
The Hillsborough Law, or Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, was committed to in 2024 in a pledge, but was then delayed in December that year as well.
But, just this weekend (April 11-12), a report was leaked to The Times suggesting an announcement is soon to come that there will be no exemption for spy bosses unless they apply to court on the grounds of national security.
The Liverpool Echo reported the leak was met with fury by the families of the Hillsborough Disaster victims, who slammed how the report was passed to a national newspaper before families could be consulted as “unspeakably cruel.”
The director of the Hillsborough Law Now group, Pete Weatherby KC, told the BBC: "We have had no update from government, and as far as we are aware none of the outstanding issues have been addressed.”
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer said at an event in Manchester on April 13: “I did make that promise [to announce the Hillsborough Law] and I intend to deliver on that promise.
“This week is obviously an important week because it’s the anniversary – anniversary seems the wrong word in a way – but it's the yearly reminder of what happened and the pain the families have gone through, are still going through, and the injustice that was inflicted on them for many, many years.
“But the duty of candour, the duty, basically, that public officials need to come forward and tell the truth – that’s a really important principle that drives me.”