Historic Day for Hillsborough Families as Parliament Debuts Landmark Law
Moment marks a watershed moment in British legal history. The long-awaited Hillsborough Law is being formally laid before Parliament in Westminster.
Following decades of inexhaustible campaigning by the families of the 97 Liverpool sympathizers who lost their lives in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
For more than 35 times, those deprived by the tragedy have fought an uphill battle against institutional failure, misinformation, and incuriosity.
Their unvarying determination has now been crowned in what contenders describe as a “ seismic ” shift in how justice is delivered and how state bodies are held to regard.
The Hillsborough Law Bill, presented today in the House of Commons, introduces a suite of reforms designed to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability within public bodies.
Statement from the Hillsborough Law Now campaign on the news that the Hillsborough Law will be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday, 16 September. pic.twitter.com/4E5kwTj3bj
— Hillsborough Law Now (@NowHillsborough) September 15, 2025
At its core is a new legal duty of candour. This will require officials to act with honesty and integrity at all times, or face criminal sanctions for breaches.
The bill also heralds the most significant expansion of legal aid seen in the last decade. Families facing inquests will receive non-means-tested support, with costs covered by the public bodies involved.
This guarantees that no bereaved family has to battle a state armed with disproportionate resources.
A further clause ensures that legal costs remain proportionate and prevents public institutions from leveraging vast legal teams to overwhelm grieving families.
Additional guidelines will instruct state representatives to engage with openness, to assist coroners in establishing facts rather than obstructing them.
A new offence targeting deliberate misinformation has also been included. Severe breaches of truth-telling obligations will attract criminal penalties, ensuring that misleading the public is no longer an overlooked breach but a punishable act.
Though born from the Hillsborough tragedy, the bill’s implications reach far wider.
Support groups from the Post Office Horizon scandal, Grenfell Tower fire, infected blood crisis, and others affected by state-related harm have long called for reform. This legislation represents a beacon of hope for them, too.
Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram, present on the day of the disaster, hailed the bill as “the biggest victory for ordinary people campaigning and organising together in generations.”
He added: “We must never forget that while it was Liverpool supporters who went to Hillsborough that day, the tragedy touched families and communities right across the country.
But the same injustices have had, and continue to be, a stain on our country’s reputation for fairness and justice. Until today.”
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy paid tribute to the courage of campaigners, stating: “The changes we’re making will ensure truth and justice are never concealed again and brave families never again left fighting endlessly for the truth, and anyone caught trying to do so will face the full force of the law.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who pledged the reform while Leader of the Opposition, reaffirmed his commitment to the cause: “I first met Margaret Aspinall as the director of public prosecutions.
And found her courage, and the strength of all the Hillsborough families and survivors, utterly breathtaking.
Faced with smears and lies about their loved ones, they held onto the truth and battled for decades to prove it.”
He continued: “Today, I am proud to be making good on the promise I made to Margaret by bringing in the Hillsborough Law.
I know nothing can ever undo the years of injustice those families have endured. But I hope it can add to the already profound legacy they have created in memory of the 97.”
Margaret Aspinall, mother of one of the victims, expressed her gratitude and resolve: “It’s been a long journey to get here. I am so grateful to the Prime Minister for fulfilling his promise to me.
This campaign wasn’t about just us, it is about the ordinary people of this country. Hopefully, this law will mean no one will ever have to suffer like we did.
This promise now was well worth waiting for, for the good of the people. We have got the Hillsborough Law!”
For the families of the 97, today’s vote is not about reversing grief but securing justice for generations to come.
It represents a stand against the systemic failings that have cost lives and shattered communities.
Mayor Rotheram summed it up: “This bill is about rebalancing the scales of justice. It is a fitting tribute to the Hillsborough families’ decades-long fight, and proof of the power of ordinary people to force extraordinary change.”
As MPs prepare to debate and vote on the bill, families, contenders, and communities from across the UK are watching closely.
For them, Hillsborough is further than history; it’s a design for responsibility, compassion, and reform in the face of disaster.
The Hillsborough Law is not just for Liverpool. It is for every family fighting for truth, dignity, and justice across the nation.
