A seismic day unfolded in parliament after years of tireless campaigning
Fans of Liverpool hold banners which read 'Unlawfully Killed', 'Unfairly Blamed' and 'Hillsborough Law Now'
Fans of Liverpool hold banners which read 'Unlawfully Killed', 'Unfairly Blamed' and 'Hillsborough Law Now'(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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'At the end of a storm, there's a golden sky'. The immortal words of an anthem so inextricably linked with Liverpool Football Club have featured prominently in this newspaper before.
One of the ECHO’s most important front pages, printed back in 2016, featured those immensely hopeful lyrics the day after new inquests finally, officially confirmed the truth about the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and all those who died in it. The 97 Liverpool fans who lost their lives in Sheffield on that day were unlawfully killed after seismic failings by the people who were supposed to keep them safe.
It felt fitting therefore that a golden sky was the backdrop as family members of some of those who died that day, who had battled through years of smears, lies and establishment cover-ups to force through those landmark inquest verdicts, returned to Parliament for a significant milestone on the journey towards ensuring no-one else would go through what they did.
As the baking July sun shimmered across the gilded halls of Parliament and Downing Street, those ordinary people from up north made their way into this strangely archaic setting that has now become all too familiar to them.
Because after their final routes towards true justice for their loved ones were shamefully thwarted, these sisters, mothers, daughters and brothers - fused together by tragedy and sheer happenstance - made a decision to change the country for the better.
For an exhausting decade they have been battling against those same state systems that denied them truth and justice for so long - trying to change the way in which the country operates in order to protect others in the future.
Andy Burnham and Margaret Aspinall
Andy Burnham and Margaret Aspinall(Image: Liverpool Echo)
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People often ask why a duty of candour is required - why don’t public officials simply tell the truth as a matter of course? Well they don’t, do they? Just ask the Hillsborough families, or the infected blood victims, those targeted in the Post Office scandal, the relatives of the Nuclear Test Veterans and so many other victims of state-related disasters and cover-ups.
Sadly we live in a country where there is currently no level playing field between the powers-that-be and the ordinary people who are simply unfortunate enough to have been wrapped up in a nightmare they would have done absolutely anything to avoid.
So that's why a Hillsborough Law was needed, and also why it was always going to be so hard to achieve. These families and the campaigners who have stood by them throughout this gruelling process knew there were still so many within the corridors of power that had much to lose from this fundamental reform of how the country will work - they have fought these forces many times before.
That’s why they kept going when the Hillsborough Law Bill became bogged down in months of wrangling over intelligence service ‘carve-outs’ and hostile briefings from government officials in national newspapers. They kept their resolve, they kept battling, they refused to be cowed.
And today they sat in dignified silence as the landmark legislation that bears the names of their departed loved ones made its final route through the House of Commons.
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. (Image: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)
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A truly significant day was met with moving speeches from the outgoing Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer - who deserves major credit for finally following through with his promise in getting this Bill all but over the line - just days before he leaves the most powerful position in the land.
The ECHO was privileged to join the family members as they met with Sir Keir on Tuesday for one last time in Downing Street. There have been understandable frustrations and tensions along this difficult journey, but their gratitude to him for the work he has done on this was clear to see.
Then there is the incoming Prime Minister - a man these family members consider a true friend. When a young minister called Andy Burnham was shouted down by Liverpool fans during the 20th anniversary commemorations of Hillsborough in 2009, it set about a chain of events - spearheaded by him - that led to the truth of what happened to those innocent fans being finally confirmed for all to see.
There is a somewhat cosmic significance that the politician many feel was the most consequential in that fight for Hillsborough truth is now becoming the Prime Minister as a new Hillsborough Law is about to make it onto the statute books. The ECHO watched on in Parliament today to hear the new MP for Makerfield’s maiden speech - on a subject that means more to him than any other.
But as crucial as they have been, today wasn’t about politicians. It was about the families.
The people who never wanted to be hosting a press conference on a balmy evening on College Green. The people who would give anything to have just one more day to spend with their sons, brothers and fathers - who never asked to be at the centre of a national news story for close to 40 years.
As always, Margaret Aspinall, Charlotte Hennessy, Steve Kelly and Sue Roberts spoke with a trademark eloquence and clarity as they laid out the historic achievement they had just overseen.
There was, of course, a note of caution that this Bill has yet to become officially a law. These people have suffered too many setbacks to ever become complacent.
But on each of their faces could be seen just a hint of a smile, a modicum of relief. They all knew what a huge day this had been on their remarkable journey towards changing this country forever.