Hillsborough Law campaigners met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday, but despite the hour-long meeting, they were left “disappointed” with the result
The families of victims of the Manchester Arena bombing said they cannot support the current form of a new Hillsborough law being drafted to stop cover-ups.
Campaigners met Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday to discuss concerns about proposals to exempt the intelligence services from the law’s duty of candour. But despite the hour-long meeting they were “disappointed” with the result.
Ruth Leney, who chairs the Manchester Arena Support Network, said Sir Keir had “listened”, but added: “It’s not the outcome that we expected. It’s got to be all or nothing, they can’t water down anything, especially with the security services. We can’t trust the Bill if not everybody is accountable to it.”
Campaigners warned a draft version of the Hillsborough Law, formally known as the Public Office (Accountability) Bill – might allow intelligence chiefs to “hide serious failures behind a vague claim of national security”.
They pointed to the 2017 Arena bombing, which Labour MP Anneliese Midgley told the Commons at PMQs, had seen MI5 spend “six years misleading the public and concealing information”.
A public inquiry found MI5 had not given an “accurate picture” of the key intelligence it held on the suicide bomber who carried out the arena attack, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds.
Responding to Ms Midgley, Sir Keir said he had “always been clear the duty of candour applies to the intelligence services” and insisted proposed amendments to the Bill did not water it down.
He said: “It is right that there are essential safeguards in place to protect national security, and we’ve got that balance right.”
Amendments proposed by the Government on Wednesday brought spies within the scope of the legislation – subject to the approval of the head of their services, which include MI5, MI6 and GCHQ .
Elkan Abrahamson, a lawyer for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, said the amendments allowed the heads of the security services to make “whatever decision they want” on whether to disclose information and left them “unchallengeable”.
He said it should be up to the head of an inquiry to decide whether information was relevant, adding there were already national security exemptions that allowed evidence to be heard in private.
Caroline Curry, whose son Liam Curry, 19, was killed in the bombing, said she was “devastated” about amendments to the bill and felt like she had been misled.
She said: “We can’t bring our children back, they’re gone. But what we can do is try to stand up for other people and try to protect their children.”
Lisa Rutherford, whose daughter Chloe Rutherford, 17, was also killed, said: “It’s not what they agreed and what they promised. They have said that they will go away and have another look but we are not hopeful. All we want is honesty.”
MPs had been due to debate the Hillsborough Law on Wednesday, but the discussion was pushed back until January 19 to allow the Government to propose changes that might address campaigners’ concerns.
Hillsborough Law Now has said “families cannot accept a law that allows the heads of the security services to hide serious failures behind a vague claim of national security”.
The group continued: “It’s time for the Prime Minister to deliver on the promise he made when he looked the bereaved of Hillsborough in the eye and use this pause to lay down the law to Whitehall and the security services.”
The Hillsborough Law takes its name from the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which led to the death of 97 football fans at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Police leaders spread false narratives about that disaster, blaming Liverpool fans, and withheld evidence of their own failings.
Government sources said while they had the deepest respect for the families, they had gone as far as they could without compromising national security and that the security services would be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny.
A government spokesman said: “We have listened to their concerns on how the duty of candour will apply to the security services and we will continue to work with them to make the bill as strong as it can possibly be, while never compromising on national security.”
Liverpool Labour MP Ian Byrne – a long-standing Hillsborough campaigner – said he plans to press ahead with his own amendment, which would fully apply the law to the security services, unless the government was willing to change its position.
He said it was “soul-destroying” that the government appeared to be giving the security services a veto and that families of victims he met had been “distraught”. About 30 Labour MPs have so far publicly backed his amendment.
