The so-called Hillsborough Law will leave a legacy for future generations, one of the campaigners at the heart of the battle for justice said after meeting the Prime Minister in Downing Street.
The new Public Office (Accountability) Bill is intended to make sure the authorities will face criminal sanctions if they attempt to cover up the facts behind disasters such as the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy or the Grenfell Tower fire.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had previously pledged to bring in the law by the 36th anniversary of the tragedy, which was on April 15, but Downing Street then said more time was needed to redraft it.
At a meeting with some of the families of those killed at Hillsborough, Sir Keir acknowledged it had been a battle, with “frank” discussions continuing as his deadline passed.
Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, died at Hillsborough, said she is hopeful the new law “will mean no one will ever have to suffer like we did”.
Speaking alongside Sir Keir in No 10, she said: “I thought this is a day that was not going to happen.”
“This is not just about a legacy for the 97,” she said, in reference to the number of Liverpool fans who died in the tragedy.
“This is a legacy for the people of this country and I think that is the most important thing.”
The Prime Minister said the courage shown by the Hillsborough campaigners had been “humbling”.
He told them: “You have changed the lives not just of the families involved in all of those scandals and injustices, you are also going to change the lives of thousands of people you will never meet, who for years and years and decades and generations to come will now be able to point to what you have done and say ‘we don’t have to go through that’.”
Some campaigners raised fears the Bill’s contents had been diluted and would not include a legal duty of candour.
But the Government has confirmed a new professional and legal duty of candour will be part of the Bill, meaning public officials must act with honesty and integrity at all times and could face criminal sanctions if they breach it.
The Hillsborough disaster led to the deaths of 97 football fans during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the football ground in Sheffield.
The Government said the new legislation will “end the culture of cover-ups” and learn lessons from wider disasters including the Grenfell Tower fire and the Post Office Horizon and infected blood scandals.
A spokesperson for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign warned the Bill must not be weakened during its passage through Parliament and called on the Government to “be brave and ignore the vested interests” of those who might attempt to water it down.
I made a promise that as Prime Minister, I would bring in the Hillsborough Law, making sure the state can never hide from the people they are supposed to serve.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 16, 2025
Today, I make good on that promise. pic.twitter.com/z1tUyZ7exe
Sir Keir said the new legislation can change “the balance of power in Britain” to ensure the state “can never hide from the people it is supposed to serve”.
He added: “Make no mistake, this a law for the 97, but it is also a law for the subpostmasters who suffered because of the Horizon scandal, the victims of infected blood, and those who died in the terrible Grenfell Tower fire. This is change only this Government can deliver.”
Sue Roberts, whose brother Graham was unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, described the Bill’s introduction as “a huge step in the right direction” but said the families will be “watching closely to ensure this Bill is passed in its entirety and enacted in full”.
She added: “The Government must resist any pressure from those who don’t believe the public deserves to know the truth about when the state fails.”
Among what the Government has described as the “seismic changes” as part of the Bill are the biggest expansion of legal aid in a decade for bereaved families, with non-means tested help and support for inquests.
This was welcomed by Julia Waters, sister of headteacher Ruth Perry who took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her school.
Ms Waters said her family had been denied legal aid for the inquest, meaning they were “forced to crowdfund to cover our legal costs at an already emotional and stressful time – simply to be heard and to try to uncover the truth”, something she said felt “profoundly unjust” when the public bodies involved had their legal costs covered.
There will also be a new offence for misleading the public, which the Government said will mean criminal sanctions for the most serious breaches.
Natasha Elcock, from Grenfell United, said: “It has been so easy for public and private agencies to escape accountability and scrutiny. By establishing a duty of candour, Hillsborough Law will prevent this, help us learn from failures and ensure bereaved and survivors are properly supported.”
Lobby Akinnola, who lost his father, Femi, early on in the Covid pandemic, said he and others had seen “first-hand how easily the truth is delayed, diluted or denied”, adding that this new Bill is “a huge step towards” justice.
