Labour MPs might rebel over Hillsborough law after talks with families break down

"Keir Starmer is facing the prospect of Labour MPs rebelling on his manifesto-promised Hillsborough law after talks broke down with families over how the duty of candour would apply to serving intelligence officers. Starmer was introduced at last year's Labour conference by Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, was one of the 97 people killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. She praised him for pushing forward with the bill after months of arguments over its future. But on Wednesday Aspinall, along with other people whose relatives died at Hillsborough and in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, emerged from a meeting with Starmer saying they were disappointed with the government's position."

"The bill will enforce a duty of candour on public officials and contractors to tell the truth in their work and to positively assist inquiries and investigations after disasters. But families have raised concerns since the bill was published about the specific protections it offered to serving intelligence officers. The families do not want directors of the intelligence services to be able to veto officers giving evidence because of the experience at the inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing. Individual officers gave evidence at that inquiry, showing that MI5 had not been truthful about intelligence it had that might have led to the bomber being stopped before the attack in which 22 people were killed at an Ariana Grande concert."

"Caroline Curry, whose son, Liam, 19, died in the Manchester Arena bombing, said: As it's proposed at the moment, the government's bill is still giving carte blanche to the security services, MI5, and we just can't back it with that. Good on the government for actually taking the law and running with it and putting it into parliament because the Conservatives didn't. But do it the right way. Don't blow it at the last hurdle. We're just really disappointed. It's just so infuriating. Curry said the false narrative MI5 put forward was torture for her a"

Keir Starmer faces a possible rebellion from Labour MPs after talks with bereaved families broke down over how a duty-of-candour law would apply to serving intelligence officers. Margaret Aspinall and other relatives of victims of Hillsborough and the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing expressed disappointment with the government's position after a meeting. The proposed bill would require public officials and contractors to tell the truth and assist inquiries after disasters, but families fear protections could allow intelligence directors to veto officers giving evidence. Families cite the Manchester Arena inquiry, where MI5 testimony was later shown to be untruthful, as a reason for concern.

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