UK passes Hillsborough law with £185m legal aid expansion
The UK parliament has approved a landmark accountability bill that criminalises official dishonesty during public inquiries and injects £185m into legal aid, fundamentally altering the legal risk landscape for the British state.
British MPs have passed the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, ending a decades-long campaign by families of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. The legislation introduces a legal duty of candour, meaning public officials who lie or evade questions during inquiries into tragedies will now face prosecution.
For the legal sector and public institutions, the bill represents a major shift in operational risk. The legislation includes a £185m expansion in legal aid—the largest in a decade—steered by justice minister Sarah Sackman. “Access to justice is the right that makes all others real. A massive expansion in legal aid accompanying the law will empower people, whatever their means, to hold authorities to account,” Sackman said. This funding will significantly increase demand for legal services as bereaved families gain state-backed representation to navigate complex inquests.
The bill’s passage followed a bitter dispute between the government and security services. The Home Office and intelligence chiefs feared the duty of candour would compromise national security, a concern rooted in the Manchester Arena bombing inquiry, where MI5 was said to have submitted an inaccurate account. A weekend compromise resolved the deadlock: intelligence bosses can apply to an inquiry chair to withhold sensitive information, but individual officers cannot refuse to provide evidence.
Andy Burnham, returning to the Commons as an MP, championed the bill as a fundamental structural reform. “We have had a situation in this country where people suffer the trauma of the initial bereavement, the incident that took their loved ones away, and then they are re-traumatised by the behaviour of the state,” he said. “We can’t take that hurt away tonight. But we can put decency back at the heart of the British state, and that is what this bill does.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer invested significant political capital to push the bill through before Burnham's expected arrival in Downing Street. A government source noted that “even during some of his weakest moments, Keir has spent political capital to make progress – he has put everything into getting Hillsborough over the line.” Burnham acknowledged Starmer's role, stating the change was “happening because of the prime minister’s commitment to a country based on justice and fairness … He has honoured his commitment to the Hillsborough families.”
The bill now moves to the House of Lords. For the campaigners, the legislation marks a permanent change in the balance of power between the state and its citizens. “This is not just about legislation, but about changing the way the bereaved and survivors are treated and a change in culture, and it is deeply empowering knowing that this protects others for ever,” the families said in a statement.
