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ADDITIONAL: Of course the government did not let this Bill go any further and it has been, effectively, killed. Expect a full report soon.

As I type this, Labour MP Ian Byrne is expected to stand up in Parliament to move the Second Reading of the real Hillsborough Law — the one campaigners have demanded for years, rather than a half-baked version currently being whispered around Whitehall.

Byrne’s bill was reintroduced as a Private Members’ Bill after what he and others see as a year of dithering and broken promises from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who pledged to pass a proper Hillsborough Law “as one of his first acts” in government.

His government is now a year old – one-fifth of the way through its term. And progress so far may be summed up as follows:

Nothing.

No law.

No justice.

Just delays.

A law born of lies

Byrne’s bill — properly named the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill — is not new.

It is a revival of legislation first tabled by Andy Burnham in 2017.

It has been shaped by the lived experiences of the Hillsborough families, who saw the state lie, smear, and cover up the facts of the disaster for decades.

The centrepiece is a statutory duty of candour; a legal obligation on public officials to tell the truth – not just when it’s convenient, not just when they’re caught. Always.

It would apply across the board — to police, civil servants, NHS managers, local authorities, ministers, and more.

Crucially, it would carry criminal penalties for those who cover up wrongdoing.

Hillsborough: when ‘The Truth’ was a lie

If anyone doubts why such a law is needed, they only have to look at what happened after April 15, 1989.

On that day, 97 people were unlawfully killed in the Hillsborough disaster — crushed to death due to police failings and mismanagement.

Instead of facing consequences, the authorities launched a coordinated cover-up.

Police falsified witness statements.

Officials fed false claims to the press.

The Sun ran a front page entitled “The Truth”, accusing Liverpool fans of stealing from the dead and urinating on rescuers.

It was all lies.

It took more than two decades of struggle, grief, and campaigning before the full horror of the cover-up was exposed by the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2012. This Site (in its earlier incarnation) reported on it here.

No senior official has ever been held criminally responsible for the lies.

This is what happens when the state is allowed to investigate itself — when accountability becomes optional and the truth is disposable.

Starmer’s pledge – and the backpedal

Keir Starmer has made multiple public promises to pass a Hillsborough Law, including a high-profile speech in Liverpool in 2022.

In September 2024, he reaffirmed that commitment, promising the law would be passed by the 36th anniversary of Hillsborough in April 2025.

That deadline came and went.

Behind closed doors, ministers have been circulating a draft bill that campaigners say guts the duty of candour, replacing it with an “aspirational” clause that carries no legal weight.

In other words: not justice, but a gesture – and not even a friendly one.

The ‘real’ law v the cover-up culture

Ian Byrne’s version includes:

• A criminally enforceable duty of candour on all public officials.

• Automatic legal aid for bereaved families at inquests.

• Obligations for public bodies to act in the public interest, not self-protection.

• Genuine accountability mechanisms for institutional wrongdoing.

It has backing from dozens of MPs who are sick of watching government after government dodge this issue.

The government’s vague, delay-riddled alternative keeps everything that sounds good and removes everything that works.

We’ve seen this film before

Hillsborough.

Grenfell.

The Post Office Horizon scandal.

Blood contamination.

Orgreave.

Rinse and repeat: ordinary people destroyed, institutions lie, the press spins, and nobody is held to account.

This is why the real Hillsborough Law is not just for Liverpool.

It’s for everyone who ever relied on the state to tell the truth — and was betrayed.

Labour has a choice: support the real law it once promised — or admit that nothing has changed, and the cover-up culture still rules Westminster.