CAMPAIGNERS welcomed the introduction of the long-awaited Hillsborough Law in Parliament today, but warned the government to “be brave and ignore the vested interests” of those who might try to water it down.

The new Public Office (Accountability) Bill will introduce vital legal protections for bereaved families and victims involved in public inquiries, investigations and inquests.  

The government has confirmed the Bill will include a “legal duty of candour,” which requires state agencies and public officials to tell the truth and fully co-operate with investigations, or face criminal sanctions if they breach it.

Campaigners previously feared it would be omitted from the legislation.

Grenfell United chair Natasha Elcock 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.”

The legislation will also guarantee families access to non-means-tested legal aid at all inquests where the state is involved.

A Hillsborough Law Now campaign spokesperson said that if passed in full, the Bill would “lead to massive cultural change and prevent the cover-ups and institutional defensiveness that have pervaded across so many disasters and scandals.

“It is only the full implementation of this Bill that will achieve that, and the government will need to be brave and ignore the vested interests that will attempt to water it down as it progresses through Parliament,” they said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed campaigners to Downing Street to mark the Bill’s introduction, which was originally due on the Hillsborough anniversary on April 15.

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’.”

Sue Roberts, whose brother Graham was unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, said the Bill was “a huge step in the right direction” but that families will be “watching closely to ensure this Bill is passed in its entirety and enacted in full.”

GMB union also welcomed the legislation, adding: “The government must deliver it in full — anything less would be a betrayal.”