![\"Justice](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2.81631007.jpg\")
Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said it was \u2018landmark legislation\u2019 (James Manning\/PA)<\/p>\nThe Public Office (Accountability) Bill will have its second reading in Parliament on Monday, having been formally introduced in the Commons in September to begin the journey towards becoming law.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had previously pledged to bring it before Parliament by the 36th anniversary of the tragedy, which was on April 15, but Downing Street then said more time was needed to redraft it amid concerns among some campaigners that the Bill\u2019s contents had been diluted and would not include a legal duty of candour.<\/p>\n
Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said it was \u2018landmark legislation\u2019 (James Manning\/PA)<\/p>\n
Known as the Hillsborough Law, the Bill is intended to make sure the authorities will face criminal sanctions if they attempt to cover up the facts behind disasters such as the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy or the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Monday\u2019s debate, David Lammy \u2013 who is also deputy prime minister \u2013 described the Bill as \u201clandmark legislation\u201d and paid tribute to the decades of campaigning by the bereaved and survivors of major scandals.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cDespite facing unthinkable loss, cowardly cover-ups, and denials of justice, the families and victims of Hillsborough, Grenfell, infected blood and other British tragedies did something extraordinary: they kept going. This landmark legislation is for them, and for the memory of all the loved ones they lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond Reading is where we start honouring that courage by beginning this Bill\u2019s journey through Parliament: to finally place a legal duty of candour on all public officials; to give grieving victims the legal help and support they need at inquests; and to make clear that misleading the public carries real consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pledged to ensure the Bill is passed in its \u201ccurrent, strong form\u201d and not \u201cwatered down\u201d during its passage through Parliament.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe will do everything we can to pass this legislation in its current, strong form. We welcome scrutiny that sharpens the Bill \u2013 but we will not allow the principles that give the Hillsborough Law its meaning and purpose to be watered down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this monumental piece of legislation, we will help deliver our Plan for Change by making sure that truth and justice will no longer have to be prised from closed doors, and that families seeking answers will never again be left to fight alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hillsborough disaster led to the deaths of 97 football fans during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the football ground in Sheffield.<\/p>\n
Victims have previously told how they were \u201cleft with no transparency, no truth\u201d only \u201cjustice cover-ups and a system that closes ranks and protects those who we should trust \u2013 ordinary people that are thrown into an alien system designed to shield the state from scrutiny and accountability\u201d.<\/p>\n
Supporters of a duty of candour for public officials include victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people, and the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, which saw\u00a0hundreds of people wrongfully prosecuted and convicted.<\/p>\n
Among what the Government has previously described as the \u201cseismic changes\u201d as part of the Bill, are the biggest expansion of legal aid in a decade for bereaved families, with non-means tested help and support for inquests.<\/p>\n
There will also be a new offence for misleading the public, which the Government said will mean criminal sanctions for the most serious breaches.<\/p>\n
Paula Sussex, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, said the new duty of candour \u201ccan be a defining moment in how our democracy works\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe provisions in this Bill will go a long way to rebuild that trust between government and people.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrust is fragile and restoring it is a long-term effort. Rebuilt not by words, but by actions that show fairness, accountability, and respect for every citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Public Office (Accountability) Bill will have its second reading in Parliament on Monday, having been formally introduced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-545087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115482667832003489","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}