The tragic Hillsborough football disaster has led the British government to introduce a law ordering public officials to tell the truth during investigations or face jail.
After a spate of tragedies, deaths and cover-ups the UK has brought in the Hillsborough Law to try to reverse the public’s mistrust in the law and to fulfil an election manifesto promise by the Labour government.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally promised victims he would drive through the bill to establish a “legal duty of candour” on public officials and authorities, requiring them tell the truth to prevent cover-ups.
During the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 a mass crush led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans after police lost control. It took decades of public inquiries and legal action by the victims’ families to uncover the truth, after public officials lied.
Similar problems have plagued the British legal system with the Horizon scandal, in which hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully jailed, the infected blood outrage, and the Grenfell Tower fire.
The landmark legislation now aims to banish the dissembling by making it a statutory duty – with the probable threat of jail – for officials to tell the truth and fully co-operate with official investigations into major incidents.
“The Hillsborough Law will once and for all end the culture of cover-ups and hiding the truth, ensuring transparency, accountability and support for bereaved families,” the government said in a statement announcing the law.
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill will introduce “seismic changes” that will mean public officials “must act with honesty and integrity at all times” or face “criminal sanctions for egregious breaches”.
A new offence of “misleading the public” will probably lead to jail, especially if it is done in a manner that is “seriously improper”. Mr Starmer, who held a reception at Downing Street for Hillsborough families, said the disaster would “always remain in our national consciousness for its tragedy and disgraceful injustice”.
“But today it can also be remembered for the way it changed our country for the better,” he added. “Because with this law, we are changing the balance of power in Britain and ensuring that the state can never hide from the people it is supposed to serve.”
Mr Starmer had made his pre-election promise directly to Margaret Aspinall, a campaigner whose son died at Hillsborough, who he met at Downing Street on Tuesday. She said that the law would “mean no one will ever have to suffer like we did”.
The legislation aims to ensure that inquiries focus solely “on establishing the facts to deliver justice for victims – avoiding ‘David and Goliath’ style showdowns” with expensive lawyers hired by the government.
In the largest expansion of legal aid in a decade, bereaved families will also be given free legal representation at inquests, and public institutions will have to ensure their spending is always proportionate. This will prevent the state “from hiding behind unjustifiably large legal teams at inquests and making sure both sides are on a fair and equal footing”, the government said.
It will also ensure that the state “conducts itself with openness and honesty” and acts purely to help the coroner “establish the facts of the case to deliver answers for victims and their families”.
