Tuesday briefing: The law that Hillsborough built – and the bitter final battle to get it through

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Or maybe you read later how South Yorkshire police presented a series of false narratives that blamed Liverpool football club supporters, rather than take responsibility for their own catastrophic mismanagement of the FA Cup semi-final.Today, after a decade of campaigning, a new law criminalising public bodies and officials that lie to the British public, and supporting people fighting these authorities for the truth, is expected to complete it final stages in the Commons, pushed through by Keir Starmer as one of his final acts as prime minister.But why did a law championed by Labour since its time in opposition almost fail? I spoke to David Conn, who has been reporting on Hillsborough for 30 years, about the families’ final battle.

The Manchester Arena families are part of the coalition with the Hillsborough families , and the campaign has absolutely insisted that the security services had to be included in the law.”Burnham’s role and Starmer’s legacyWith parliamentary business plans updated late last week to include the bill’s remaining Commons stages today, it is understood that the final sticking point – that any decisions on excluding evidence on the grounds of national security are for an inquiry chair to make- have been resolved to the families’ satisfaction. “This has finally been agreed in Starmer’s final week, it also clearly appears significant that Burnham, the Hillsborough families’ long-term supporter, is about to become prime minister.” Many of the profiles of the incoming prime minister churned out in recent weeks have highlighted the moment Burnham’s speech at the 20th-anniversary memorial service at Anfield in April 2009 was drowned out by chants of “justice for the 96”.

“But I don’t think the reporting has fully taken into account how effective he was after that,” says David.Burnham’s subsequent call for the disclosure of all related documents led to the establishment of the Hillsborough Independent Panel. And that in his book Head North, Burnham describes how the “trigger” for making that public call for Hillsborough disclosure was reading a Guardian article at his kitchen table three days before the service, in which David reported families’ outrage that junior officers’ statements had been amended by their superiors to remove criticisms of the police.A victory for solidarityFrom his first meetings with the Hillsborough families back in the mid-90s, David has always been struck by their empathy for all those suffering injustice.That solidarity was very much in evidence in this final battle: “The Hillsborough Law Now campaign is a genuine coalition, with families bereaved by the Manchester Arena atrocity, Grenfell fire, Covid.