Before the July 2024 general election, Keir Starmer, as Labour Party leader, repeatedly committed to introducing a Hillsborough Law if his party won power. This legislation, also known as the Public Authorities (Accountability) Bill, aimed to prevent future injustices by imposing a legal duty of candour on public bodies, with criminal sanctions for those who mislead or obstruct investigations.
In September 2022, at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Keir Starmer promised that a Labour government would prioritise the Hillsborough Law to support the families of the 97 victims of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
In April 2024, on the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, Keir Starmer reaffirmed to the Liverpool Echo that the law would be a priority, calling it "insulting" that the families had not yet seen this legislative change after decades of campaigning.
In June 2024 Labour’s manifesto, titled "Change," explicitly committed to implementing the Hillsborough Law, addressing historical injustices and ensuring swift resolution for victims, including those affected by scandals like the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby and a Hillsborough survivor, reintroduced the Hillsborough Law, officially the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, to Parliament on 2nd July, 2025, due to delays in the government’s progress on the legislation.
Mr Byrne posted to X: on 8th July 2025:
The Prime Minister promised one of his first acts would be to pass the Hillsborough Law.
More than a year on, we're still waiting. So I've tabled the law myself.
Ahead of its second reading on Friday, I'm calling on Keir Starmer to fulfil his promise and get behind the Bill.
Mr Byrne also posted a copy of a letter to Keir Starmer:
Ian Byrne
Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby House of Commons, London SW1A OAA Email: ian.byrne.mp@parliament.uk
Keir Starmer MP
Prime Minister
Sent via email
Dear Prime Minister,
8 July 2025
As the parliamentary lead for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign and as a survivor of the disaster - for me one of the most powerful commitments in Labour's 2024 manifesto was the pledge to enact the Hillsborough Law.
You first made this promise in Liverpool in 2022, declaring that passing "the Hillsborough Law" would be "one of [your] first acts as Prime Minister."[1] You repeated that commitment again in my city in September 2024, now as Prime Minister, promising the law would be introduced before the 36th anniversary of the disaster: 15 April 2025.[2]
That promise had a clear and widely understood meaning. The Hillsborough Law is not a vague aspiration it is a specific Bill, originally introduced by Andy Burnham in 2017, written by Hillsborough lawyers, and endorsed by the families and survivors. It is a landmark piece of legislation designed to end the culture of state cover-ups and to rebuild trust in public institutions. Yet instead of introducing this law, in March your Government presented a wholly inadequate draft replacement Bill to one of the lawyers leading the Hillsborough Law Now campaign. This draft lacked key principles and protections of the Hillsborough Law. After strong opposition from families and campaigners, you "paused" that process and rightly scrapped a planned rollout. Ministers said more time was needed to get the Bill right. But now there are serious concerns that a revised replacement Bill still falling far short will be tabled. That would be yet another betrayal of Hillsborough families and the broader campaign for justice.
That is why last week, I formally reintroduced the real Hillsborough Law to Parliament - the law you promised and the law that would deliver the change so many have fought for. The Bill, officially titled the Public Authorities (Accountability) Bill, is scheduled for its second reading this Friday.
Your Government now faces a choice: to support this Bill and give Government time to put it on the statute book, or to block it and break your promise.
Prime Minister, I urge you: Do not let a promise made in Liverpool be broken in Westminster. Stand with the victims of state cover-ups. Honour the 97. Support the Hillsborough Law this Friday.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Byrne
Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby
[1] https://labour.org.uk/updates/press-releases/keir-starmer-conference-speech/
[2] https://labour.org.uk/updates/press-releases/keir-starmer-speech-at-labour-party-conference-2024/
Constituency Office:
545 West Derby Road L138AA
Phone No. 0151 222 2345 Email: ian.byrne.mp@parliament.uk
www.ianbyrne.org
-- Ends --
On Friday, 11th July, 2025, during the bill’s second reading, the government blocked its progress, prompting criticism from Mr Byrne and others, including Labour MP John McDonnell, who expressed outrage in Parliament.
Labour Councillor Martin Abrams summed up the mood with a post to X:
Keir Starmer "One of my first acts as Prime Minister will be to put the Hillsborough Law onto the statute books"
Tonight his Government blocked @IanByrneMP's Hillsborough Law Bill from becoming Law.
Keir Starmer has turned lying into an art form
https://twitter.com/IanByrneMP/status/1942650103656816841
https://twitter.com/Martin_Abrams/status/1943780066380722593
