Labour set to pass Hillsborough Law

The current Labour government are set to pass the Public Office (Accountability) Bill to increase accountability for public bodies such as the police. 

The law has been 36 years in the making as campaigners have been calling for successive governments to pass the bill since 97 Liverpool supporters were “killed unlawfully”. 

At their conference in Liverpool a mother of a son who died at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 when the disaster happened addressed the conference with a message. 

Margaret Aspinall said: “It’s not about what politics you believe in or who you vote for, this was about getting the Hillsborough Law for the ordinary people of this country.” 

Many other relatives of the victims also attended the Labour conference as Mrs Aspinall agreed that the Prime Minster had “kept his word”. 

The government has confirmed a new professional and legal ‘duty of candour’ which means public officials would have to act with integrity and honesty and if they breached this, they would face criminal sanctions. 

The Prime Minister praised the families for their strength and resilience in “their long campaign for justice”. 

The bill is set to end the “culture of cover-ups” according to the government like the Post Office Scandal and the Grenfell fire cover-up. 

The bill was originally proposed in September 2025 and is currently being debated and scrutinised in Parliament. 

Ian Byrne MP of West Derby has been the parliamentary lead for the law and is a supporter and collaborator of Hillsborough Law Now a campaign group which has long called for the government to implement the legislation. 

By Arley Armfield