"We can’t take that hurt away tonight but we can put decency back at the heart of the state and that is what this bill does"
Andy Burnham speaking during the debate on the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, in the House of Commons, Westminster.
Andy Burnham speaking during the debate on the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, in the House of Commons, Westminster.
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(Image: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)
Andy Burnham today made his maiden speech in the House of Commons as a member of parliament since his return to Westminster where he praised not just the Hillsborough families, but the people of Liverpool, reminding the country where the incoming Prime Minister is proud to have been born.
After months of delays and legal arguments between family members, campaigners and government officials, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, commonly known as the Hillsborough Law, returned to the House of Commons on Tuesday for its Report Stage and Third Reading - the final stages a bill must go through in the House of Commons.
The new law will make it a criminal offence to mislead proceedings through a new Duty of Candour and will expand legal aid so bereaved families have equal, publicly-funded representation at inquests. The law is known widely as the Hillsborough Law in honour of the 97 Liverpool fans unlawfully killed at Hillsborough in 1989 and their families who fought against a state cover-up for decades.
After being laid before Parliament on a momentous day last September, the Bill's passage through the House of Commons has been heavily delayed by a row about how the new duty of candour would affect the nation's intelligence and security services.
But after a crucial breakthrough, amendments being voted on today mean individuals who currently or formerly worked for intelligence agencies can be given "compliance directions". It is hoped that this will address any concerns about national security being compromised by forcing staff to assist inquiries and investigations into failings by the state.
Speaking in the House of Commons before commending the bill, Sir Keir Starmer said: "This Bill has been too long coming but now, as we reach Third Reading, we stand on the precipice of change.
Andy Burnham speaking in the House of Commons today
Andy Burnham speaking in the House of Commons today(Image: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)
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"This is a moment of real significance for our country, we arrive here with a bill that is stronger and above all worthy of those who have fought for it. A law that will always carry their name, the Hillsborough Law and I commend this Bill to the House."
Mr Burnham said: "It does feel tonight like life is coming full circle and as we past his momentous piece of legislation a piece of legislation that will change the way this country thinks and works about justice, it truly is a rewiring of the state and a passing of power from the authority to the hands of ordinary people.
"And it is happening because of the Prime Minister’s commitment to a country based on justice and fairness and we thank him for that. He has honoured his commitment to the Hillsborough families and what this House will do by passing this Bill tonight is balancing the scales of justice so we have justice for ordinary people going forward and that is some legacy indeed.
"We have all recognised we simply would not be here tonight were it not for the dignity and determination of the Hillsborough families who are here in the chamber this evening."
He continued: "We are here because of the city of Liverpool, represented so well by my honourable friend the member for West Derby who has been entirely true to the people of his city, as has my friend Steve Rotheram, a former member of this House and mayor of the Liverpool City Region, who also carried forward this campaign to this point.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons today
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons today(Image: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)
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"I cannot describe my pride in being in this House tonight to see this Bill plant the values of the city of my birth at the heart of this country and that is something of huge and profound significance that has been brought about by the Hillsborough families and we recognise the significance of that tonight. As Steve Rotheram has said, the Hillsborough Law can’t do anymore for the Hillsborough families, indeed it will do much more for those who come after them but that is what makes their campaign so special. They have done this for others and not for themselves."
In his powerful maiden speech to the House of Commons, he concluded: "Lets finish where I started, that Liverpool supporters were blamed for harming their own fellow supporters at a football match that is what was done, that was left to stand for all of those years.
"These families here tonight had to live with that for all of those years, imagine what that must have felt like. We have had in this country where people suffer the trauma of inital bereavement the incident that took their loved ones away and then they are retraumatised by the behaviour of the state. We can’t take that hurt away tonight but we can put decency back at the heart of the state and that is what this Bill does and I finish again by praising the Prime Miinster. This truly is his legacy."
The Bill's journey continues in the House of Lords. But campaigners are clear that breaking this impasse and getting the new legislation through the House of Commons is a hugely significant step.
Speaking to the ECHO outside Westminster, Margaret Aspinall, who lost her 18-year-old son James at Hillsborough, said: "[It's special] because it's a monumental day. What's been achieved today is absolutely great for the country, not just for a certain few people. This is for the nation.
"Things will change now, if, obviously, when the law is definitely passed. It's got to go through the House of Lords, then it goes to the King. But once that happens, what a great achievement it's been for the people of this country."
When asked about the challenges campaigners have faced, Ms Aspinall said: "These guys here have never stopped. Every time they had meetings and we've had meetings, there's always been people trying to knock it back, and that's because of national security.
"I do believe you've got to have national security. But my god, there's things that need to be changed with national security also. So I do believe that we've had all these years of fighting, campaigning, just to get to this stage. Common sense tells you, you shouldn't have to do this. You should never have had to have carried on like this for all of these years.
"How many a time I've been stopped by a few people and said to me, 'But what are you getting out of it?' Oh my god, what a stupid thing to say. We gain nothing out of this, absolutely nothing. The people who will gain are the people who will need will need this law.
"They're the people who will gain. We didn't have to campaign the way we have. We've done it because we cared about the people of this country, that people should get legal aid. That is so important, that they should never have to go out campaigning like we had to.
"We had the establishment against us, we had the media against us. We'd lost our loved ones. I lost my son. I didn't have time to grieve. I had to go out, campaign, and try and get funds to help us to fight against a system that was so corrupt, so wrong, and so unjust.
"People won't have to do that anymore. That's what I get out of it, that the people of this country don't have to do that."