Hillsborough Law to be further delayed

The Hillsborough Law - which the government intended to pass a year ago - will be further delayed, the BBC understands.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had promised to pass the legislation by 15 April 2025, to mark the 36th anniversary of the disaster.

But the new law, which would create a legal obligation for public authorities to co-operate with and tell the truth to inquiries, will not be passed by the end of the current session of parliament in May.

The BBC has been told ministers are committed to carrying it over to the next parliamentary session and campaigners hope it will finally be passed in the autumn.

Labour MPs who have campaigned on this now acknowledge that the law will be delayed until the new session of parliament but are pressing for a specific timetable from government.

Ministers are reluctant to be too specific, given previously missed "deadlines".

The BBC understands representatives from the Hillsborough Law campaign's legal team will be in parliament next week in an attempt to unblock the legal log jam and galvanise support.

The Hillsborough Law would create a "duty of candour" for public authorities. It refers to the football stadium in Sheffield where a deadly crush occurred in 1989, claiming 97 lives.

Police leaders were subsequently found to have spread false narratives, blaming Liverpool fans, and to have withheld evidence of their own failings.

Sir Keir had also pledged to work closely with the bereaved families, which initially delayed the bill for further consultations.

But in January this year, a serious sticking point emerged about how far the intelligence services would be obliged to co-operate.

A proposed government amendment would have given the heads of intelligence agencies the right to decide whether to co-operate with public inquiries, to prevent any risk to national security.

But some campaigners pointed to the behaviour of intelligence agencies after the Manchester Arena bombing, when MI5 was accused of misleading the inquiry into the incident.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram issued a joint statement which said the amendment created "too broad an opt-out" and risked "undermining the spirit of the legislation".

Campaigners, families, and Merseyside MPs took the same view.

Intense engagement between ministers, officials and Hillsborough and Manchester families failed to produce a mutually agreed position on the amendment and the legislation was paused.

At the time, some government sources feared moving ahead without family backing could lead to a crisis for the government - and criticism of Sir Keir's leadership.

Some sources even feared it could cause a serious threat to his position, if a potential leadership candidate spoke out against the plans.

Insiders say one of the challenges is that every tweak to that amendment has to be cleared by multiple government departments, agencies – and the families themselves.

There is a recognition that this process will not be concluded before the King's Speech - expected in May - signals a new parliamentary session.

Any bills not on the statute book by then will fall, but can be brought back.

Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne was at Hillsborough in 1989 and has been in close, regular touch with bereaved families.

He had put forward an alternative amendment designed to prevent the security services from misleading public inquiries, but this has not been adopted by the government.

The Labour MP told BBC Radio Merseyside ministers had told him what was wrong with his amendment and that he would be happy to sit down and negotiate.

He suggested meetings since the pausing of the legislation in January had been "sporadic" - and he could not "countenance" the legislation being delayed beyond Labour's annual conference in the autumn, which is held in Liverpool.

He said: 'What we now need is the prime minister to enact the legislation.

"It has to be the Hillsborough law, no compromise.

"The government need to get their fingers out. Every single second of delay hurts the families. This is their legacy for those that they lost. It's so important."