Prime Minister Keir Starmer greets Margaret Aspinall, ahead of a meeting with family members of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster outside 10 Downing Street
Prime Minister Keir Starmer greets Margaret Aspinall, ahead of a meeting with family members of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster outside 10 Downing Street
Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with a delegation from the families of the 97 Liverpool fans who died as a result of the on a seismic day in British history. After decades of tireless campaigning in the face of adversity, the families have forced though a Hillsborough Law Bill, which will be laid in Parliament today.
Mr Starmer met with Steve Kelly, Charlotte Hennessy, Margaret Aspinall and Sue Roberts in Downing Street this morning as the landmark legislation promises to fundamentally change how the country operates. Speaking to the ECHO after the meeting, Mr Starmer vowed the law will not be watered down, as he said: "I made it very clear to them we've worked hard to get to where we are with this law. Yes, there's been constant battles.
"But we have pushed through to get this law into a place where the families think it's the right law and we're not going to water it down now. What we need to do is get it onto the statute as quickly as possible."
has said the landmark legislation will "end the culture of cover ups" as the significant package of measures will hold public officials and authorities accountable for their actions with a new professional and legal duty of candour. This means they must act with honesty and integrity
Among the significant package of measures, the Hillsborough Law Bill will also see the largest expansion of legal aid for a decade for bereaved families - providing non-means tested help and support for inquests, with the costs covered by the public body represented.
A legal duty will also be placed on public bodies to ensure their spending is always proportionate, stopping the state from hiding behind unjustifiably large legal teams at inquests and making sure both sides are on a fair and equal footing.
There will also be new guidance on how state bodies and their representatives should participate at inquests, aiming to ensure the state conducts itself with "openness and honesty" with the sole purpose of helping the coroner establish the facts of the case. And there will be a new offence created for misleading the public, with criminal sanctions for the most serious breaches.
It is hoped this significant package of measures will ensure the tragic injustices of the past and the institutional failures that followed them, will never be repeated. The bill has been described as the most important change to how the nation's justice system treats ordinary citizens since the Human Rights Act was introduced in 1998.
Here's a round up of images from a historic day that wouldn't have been possible if not for the inspiring and defiant efforts of the families who lost loved ones after they went to a football match 36 years ago.
Steve Kelly, Charlotte Hennessy, Margaret Aspinall and Sue Roberts speak with Keir Starmer in Downing Street this morning (Image: Getty Images) 1 of 8
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Margaret Aspinall, whose son James died at Hillsborough aged 18, was one of the representatives of the families who met with the Prime Minister this morning (Image: Getty Images) 2 of 8
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Mr Starmer told the ECHO he has known Margaret Aspinall for many years and knows she wouldn't accept any watered down version of the Hillsborough Law Bill (Image: Getty Images) 3 of 8