Hillsborough: Labour pledge for law to support victims of tragedies

A Labour government would introduce a Hillsborough Law to ensure victims of major tragedies get the same support "as the authorities that failed them", the shadow justice secretary has said.

The law would introduce a statutory duty of candour on public servants during all forms of investigation.

Calls for the law began after new inquests found those who died in the 1989 disaster were unlawfully killed.

Steve Reed made the announcement at Labour's party conference in Liverpool.

Ninety-seven Liverpool fans died as a result of a crush at the FA Cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989.

Their families fought a 27-year campaign to prove their relatives and the supporters around them were not to blame for what happened and to overturn the inquest that was held into the deaths.

The original verdicts were quashed following the 2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel report, and new hearings were ordered.

In 2016, a jury concluded that the victims were unlawfully killed and found the supporters did not contribute to their deaths.

Mr Reed told Labour's conference that those families had been left alone to fight for justice and had "no funds allowed for lawyers to represent them".

He said campaigner Margaret Aspinall, whose son James died at Hillsborough, "told me there can be no justice for those who died until we stop the same thing ever happening again".

"She's right," he said.

"That's why Keir Starmer's Labour government will bring in a Hillsborough Law, so victims of major tragedies get the same legal representation as the authorities that failed them."

He added that the "families of the Hillsborough and other tragedies since are here with us today", prompting those present to give the campaigners a standing ovation.

Speaking in his keynote speech, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer underlined his party's pledge.

Referencing Andrew Devine, who became the most recent victim of the disaster when he died in 2021, he said the conference was the party's first "since this city's call for justice for the 96 became justice for the 97".

"For too long, this city has been let down," he said.

"So when Labour wins the next election, one of my first acts as prime minister will be to put the Hillsborough law on the statute book.

"I promise you, we will get this city the justice it deserves."

The Labour mayors of Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester, Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham, have campaigned for a Hillsborough Law to ensure fairer treatment for bereaved families.

Such a law would focus on Bishop James Jones's findings about the experiences of the families, which were detailed in his 2017 report.

Hillsborough survivor and representative of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance, Dr Anne Eyre, said: "The Hillsborough Law will not only help bereaved families but also survivors in future, as well as the wider community that suffers when public tragedy occurs and a lack of candour prevents society learning lessons for the future."

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