Devastated Birmingham Pub Bombings campaigners have “no intention” of taking part in an independent commission to look into the attacks.

Today (October 30), the Government announced there will not be a full public inquiry into the bombings, which saw 21 people murdered in two city pubs and more than 200 injured.

Justice minister Dan Jarvis said the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery would give the best route to families seeking answers.

READ MORE: Birmingham pub bombings inquiry major update as Government make shock announcement

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster today said, if the families did request a review by the Commission, he would ‘hold the force to account’.

But Julie Hambleton, of Justice4The21 and whose 18-year-old sister Maureen was killed in the bombings on November 21, 1974, said they believed the commission is not independent and would be “tantamount to the Home Office marking it’s own homework”.

The campaign group has long battled for a full public inquiry which they believe is the only way for them to get to the truth of what happened.

Ms Hambleton said: “We have no intentions of participating in the (Commission’s) role whatsoever.

“The commission has absolutely no true independence of it’s own. There are several legal strands we need to look at and we need to take advice on that and discuss it as a group of families.

“The Commission does not have the statutory power to bring the Home Office to account because it would actually be tantamount to them marking their own homework.

“The Home Office has total veto over intelligence and as far as we’re concerned they’ll never release the truth to us.

“The Birmingham Pub Bombings remain England’s longest unsolved mass murder of the 20th century.

“For decades we’ve been told by the very same establishment that they have no files or documentation to do with the slaughter of our loves ones and 200 survivors and the city of Birmingham.

“But now, all of a sudden in the hope they are going to pacify us, they want us to participate in a commission where now they’re claiming they will be able to give us answers to questions they’ve told us that they don’t have.”

Mr Foster’s full statement said: “My thoughts are with the 21 people killed, the many more injured and everyone affected, as a consequence of the appalling and brutal attacks, on the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in The Town on 21 November 1974.

“I commend Justice4the21, for having campaigned with relentless courage and determination, over many years, to secure accountability, truth and justice.

“Although the Birmingham Pub bombings took place 51 years ago, there can be no statute of limitations on access to justice.

“The government has today, taken the decision, not to establish a public inquiry.

“It is the government’s belief, that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery is an effective route, which offers the best chance to secure accountability, truth and justice.

“If Justice4the21 decide to request a review by the Commission, then I will hold West Midlands Police to account, to ensure that there is accountability, co-operation and engagement with the process, so as to ensure that Justice4the21, secure access to the justice they are entitled to.”