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Sunday, October 4, 2026

Hillsborough: Labour pledge for law to support victims of tragedies - BBC

A Labour government would introduce a Hillsborough Law to ensure victims of major tragedies get the same support "as the authorities that failed them", the shadow justice secretary has said.

The law would introduce a statutory duty of candour on public servants during all forms of investigation.

Calls for the law began after new inquests found those who died in the 1989 disaster were unlawfully killed.

Steve Reed made the announcement at Labour's party conference in Liverpool.

Ninety-seven Liverpool fans died as a result of a crush at the FA Cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989.

Their families fought a 27-year campaign to prove their relatives and the supporters around them were not to blame for what happened and to overturn the inquest that was held into the deaths.

The original verdicts were quashed following the 2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel report, and new hearings were ordered.

In 2016, a jury concluded that the victims were unlawfully killed and found the supporters did not contribute to their deaths.

'I promise you'

Mr Reed told Labour's conference that those families had been left alone to fight for justice and had "no funds allowed for lawyers to represent them".

He said campaigner Margaret Aspinall, whose son James died at Hillsborough, "told me there can be no justice for those who died until we stop the same thing ever happening again".

"She's right," he said.

"That's why Keir Starmer's Labour government will...



Read Full Story: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-63039684