Keir Starmer is facing a mounting rebellion from Labour MPs amid concerns the long-promised “Hillsborough Law” won’t go far enough to prevent future cover-ups. Talks between ministers, the families involved and supportive MPs have broken down over concerns about the protections it will offer to the intelligence services. Thirty Labour MPs have backed an amendment which would ensure the bill’s ‘duty of candour’ would apply to individual intelligence officers. They mostly come from the Socialist Campaign Group on the left of the party, but the New Statesman understands that other Merseyside and Manchester Labour MPs are also on rebellion watch.
Calls for a “Hillsborough Law” first began almost a decade ago in April 2016, after the completion of the second set of inquests into the deaths of 97 people at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989. Pete Weatherby KC, who had represented affected families, felt the inquests had exposed the fact that no legal obligation existed for the public authorities involved in the disaster to co-operate with the process transparently.
Alongside other lawyers, Weatherby developed the Public Authority (Accountability) bill which was first introduced to Parliament in March 2017. The bill won cross party sponsorship, including support from then MP, Andy Burnham, though its progress was stalled when the 2017 general election was called. Successive governments have failed to reintroduce it. Labour made a promise to champion the bill in the party’s 2024 manifesto; it was subsequently announced in the King’s Speech with a government pledge to ensure it had been introduced in time for the next anniversary of the disaster – 15 April 2025.
The bill includes the provision for a statutory “duty of candour” for public authorities which would impose a legal obligation on them to act transparently. It would also create a new criminal offence for those who fail to uphold the duty of candour and assistance and misleading the public. Ian Byrne, the MP for Liverpool West Derby was at Hillsborough on that day in 1989: his father was injured. Since he was elected in 2019, Byrne has been tirelessly campaigning for the law to pass through the commons. In July 2025, Byrne attempted to re-introduce the 2017 bill to Parliament for a second reading but he was blocked. However, the government later re-introduced the bill on 16 September last year.
Since then the law has been making its way through Parliament. Its report stage and third reading were originally scheduled for 14 January, but have now been delayed until Monday owing to emerging dispute over the question of whether the duty of candour would apply to the intelligence services. Starmer met with families on Wednesday evening, where they warned him against breaking promises by introducing “loopholes for the security services”, but the meeting ended with no clear resolution.
The discussions were “very sad” and it has been “a difficult week,” someone on the government side of the negotiations told the New Statesman. “This is the most powerful bill we can put forward,” they added. “We’re moving it in the direction of the families but we’ve moved it as far as we can,” a source inside government said.
Earlier in the week, Byrne submitted amendments to the bill which would see it apply to individual intelligence officers. “My amendments have been drawn up by the lawyers… we appreciate the national security concern,” Byrne told the New Statesman, emphasising that his amendment “does nothing to endanger, or impinge national security”. He told the New Statesman on Wednesday – before talks between the government and the families broke down – “I’m hoping, indeed praying the government will accept my amendments.”
But on Thursday night, Byrne put out a statement saying he could not in good conscience back the bill in its current form. “I am absolutely gutted writing this,” Byrne said, “but we need to be clear about what is happening.” He added: “I made a commitment to deliver the Hillsborough law without exemptions, without loopholes, and without carve-outs… if the government’s amendments are passed then this legislation, in its current form, is not that.”
Speaking to the New Statesman on Friday, Byrne said the “mere thought” of going into the voting lobby to vote against something he has “fought all [his] life for” was “killing him”. But he added that “it’s not the Hillsborough Law as it stands now” – Byrne will not vote for the bill in its present form. He said he believed the government has come under “intense pressure” from the Home Office, the Foreign Office and the Security Service “who do not want that level of accountability”. But Byrne explained that from the perspective of the families, and those involved in pushing for this new law, “a healthy organisation, if it’s made mistakes, if it’s made errors… it should accept when it’s done something wrong.”
Other Labour MPs are similarly devastated. Thirty of them have backed Byrne’s amendment. Anneliese Midgley, the MP for Knowsley, told the New Statesman, “I have found the last 24 hours heartbreaking.” At PMQs on Wednesday, Midgley asked Starmer to commit to an amendment to the Hillsborough Law that “fully satisfies families and victims”. Behind the scenes, other Labour MPs are similarly disheartened by delays to the bill’s passage and now, this dispute between the government and families.
One told the New Statesman the government “must deliver the bill in its entirety” adding, “it’s taking far too long to deliver”. Another described the law as “exactly the kind of thing a Labour government should be doing” but expressed deep disappointment that talks had broken down.
Byrne is rallying support among MPs in parliament. If the bill goes to a vote in its current form – and the government does not withdraw the amendment – Byrne and a number of Labour MPs alongside him plan to vote against it, and back his amendment instead. Thirty Labour MPs signed Byrne’s amendment which will also be put forward on Monday, but more could come forward in the coming days. Byrne is still optimistic: “I’m really hoping that the government will consider withdrawing before the report stage on Monday and come back round the table with us. But if they carry on, that will be the plan”.
A government spokesperson said: “We are bringing in a landmark piece of legislation putting a legal duty on officials to respond openly and honestly when things go wrong. This would not have been possible without the tireless campaigning from victims and families who have lost loved ones and we are determined to make this bill a lasting legacy to the decades they have called for change.
“We have listened to their concerns on how the duty of candour will apply to the security services and we will continue to work with them to make the bill as strong as it can possibly be, while never compromising on national security.”
[Further reading: Protect Keir Starmer, cabinet urged]
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