What's happened
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, has passsed second readings and is advancing through Parliament. It imposes a duty of candour on public officials to tell the truth about public tragedies, including how intelligence services will be bound by safeguards. Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer are central as leadership transitions unfold. Campaigners welcome the move as justice for victims’ families.
What's behind the headline?
Key angles
- This law marks a shift in accountability, connecting past cover-ups to current reform
- The role of intelligence services has been a pivotal, contentious point
- Leadership handover focuses attention on the bill’s legacy
What to watch
- Whether the bill passes third reading and becomes law this session
- How the secure process for disclosures to national security will operate in practice
- The impact on bereaved families seeking truth and accountability
How we got here
The Hillsborough Law, named after the 1989 disaster, aims to require candour from public officials and provide legal aid to victims’ families at inquests. It has faced earlier wrangles over applying the duty to intelligence services and national security concerns. Recent amendments brought spies within scope with a secure disclosure process. The bill is advancing toward royal assent.
Our analysis
The Guardian reports on Labour backing; BBC and BBC Business detail the bill’s progression and the Hillsborough context; The Independent covers campaigners’ reactions and leadership implications.
Go deeper
- Will the bill reach royal assent this session?
- How will the secure process for intelligence disclosures operate in practice?
- What does this mean for future inquiries into state misconduct?
More on these topics
-
Andy Burnham - Mayor of Greater Manchester
Andrew Murray Burnham is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He attended Gordon Brown’s Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008 and served in the Cabinet as Culture Secretary f
-
Keir Starmer - Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer KCB QC MP is a British politician and former lawyer who has served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015.
-
Hillsborough disaster - Disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989.
-
Liverpool - City in England
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. Its population in 2019 was approximately 498,042. making it the tenth-largest English district by population and the largest in Merseyside and the surrounding region.
-
Labour Party - Centrist social democratic political party in the United Kingdom
The Labour Party, commonly Labour, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party. It sits on the centre-left of the left–right political spectrum, and has been described as an alliance of democratic...
-
United Kingdom - Country in Europe
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the northwestern coast of the European mainland.
-
Shabana Mahmood - Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Shabana Mahmood is a British Labour Party politician and barrister serving as the Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Ladywood since 2010. She has served in the Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer as the Labour Party National Campaign Coordinator since 2021.
-
European Convention on Human Rights - International treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe
The European Convention on Human Rights is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953.
-
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, generally known simply as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 54 member states, nearly all former territories of the British Empire.
-
Stella Creasy - Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Stella Judith Creasy is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has been Member of Parliament for the London constituency of Walthamstow since 2010. She served in the frontbench teams of Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman from 2011 to 2015.
-
Sheffield - City in England
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire its name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it.
-
Hillsborough Stadium - Stadium in Sheffield, England
Hillsborough Stadium, is a 39,732-capacity association football stadium located in Owlerton, a north-western suburb of Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. It has been the home of Sheffield Wednesday since its opening in 1899.
-
Sheffield Wednesday - Football club
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
-
Downing Street - Street in London, England
Downing Street is a street in central London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
-
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a self-governing Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km border.
-
Nottingham East - Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885–1955 and 1974 onwards
Nottingham East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Nadia Whittome of the Labour Party.
-
house of commons - Governing body
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
-
MI5 - Intelligence agency
The Security Service, also known as MI5, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service, Government Communications Headquarters and Defence Inte
-
Apsana Begum - Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Apsana Begum is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament for Poplar and Limehouse since 2019.
-
Nadia Whittome - Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Nadia Edith Whittome is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Nottingham East since the 2019 general election. She was elected at the age of 23, and became the Baby of the House as the youngest MP. She is a member of
-
Manchester - City in England
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 547,627 as of 2018. It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.5 million and third-most populous metropol
-
Nottingham Forest F.C. - Football club
Nottingham Forest Football Club, often referred to as Forest, are a professional football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England.
-
Israel - Country in the Middle East
Israel, formally known as the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea.
-
police - Organization type
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder.
-
Hamas
Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist militant organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
-
Liverpool Echo - Newspaper
The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
-
Egypt - Country
Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula.
-
Türkiye (Turkey) - Country in the Middle East
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe.