A landmark piece of legislation designed to prevent future cover-ups like those seen after the Hillsborough disaster has been halted in Parliament, despite significant cross-party backing. The proposed 'Hillsborough Law' has encountered a procedural roadblock, delaying its journey onto the statute books and dashing the hopes of campaigners who have fought for years for greater transparency from public bodies.
The Core of the Proposed Legislation
The bill, championed by figures including former Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour's Andy Burnham, seeks to establish a legally enforceable 'duty of candour' on all public authorities and officials. This duty would compel them to proactively cooperate with official investigations and inquiries. Crucially, it aims to reverse the current adversarial dynamic, where families of victims often face a wall of defensiveness and obstruction from the state.
This legislative push is a direct response to the decades-long struggle for justice by the families of the 97 Liverpool fans who died at Hillsborough in 1989. Their battle exposed a culture of institutional denial and evasion by police and other agencies. The proposed law is seen as a vital safeguard to ensure that no other families have to endure a similar ordeal in the wake of a public tragedy.
How the Roadblock Emerged
The legislation, formally known as the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, was making progress as a Private Member's Bill. However, its passage has been stymied by a parliamentary mechanism known as 'blocking'. This tactic, often employed by the government to delay or halt backbench bills it does not fully support, involves a single MP objecting to further discussion.
While no individual or party has publicly claimed responsibility for the block, the effect is a significant delay. The bill cannot proceed to its next crucial stage—detailed examination in committee—without government time being allocated for debate, which is now highly unlikely in the current parliamentary session. This leaves the legislation in a state of political limbo, despite the vocal support from senior MPs across the political spectrum.
Reactions and the Path Forward
The stalling of the bill has been met with profound disappointment from campaigners and bereaved families. They argue that the government's stated commitment to learning the lessons of Hillsborough rings hollow without concrete legislative action. The delay is viewed as a failure to deliver on promises made in the aftermath of the landmark Hillsborough inquests, which concluded in 2016 with a verdict of unlawful killing and a clear condemnation of police failures.
Proponents of the law argue that its principles extend far beyond football disasters. They contend it would apply to a wide range of scandals and tragedies, from the Grenfell Tower fire to the infected blood inquiry, creating a fundamental cultural shift in how the state responds to failure. The core demand is for transparency to become a legal obligation, not a discretionary choice.
With the bill blocked, attention now turns to whether a future government will adopt the legislation as part of its own programme. Campaigners have vowed to maintain pressure, insisting that the 'duty of candour' remains an unfinished cornerstone of justice for victims of state-related failures. The roadblock in Westminster is a setback, but the long campaign for the Hillsborough Law is far from over.
