Sarah Owen MP: Labour’s new Hillsborough law will protect people when the state lets them down
Introduced this week, the government's Hillsborough Law will protect those who face miscarriages of justice, writes Sarah Owen MP
Many of us in Luton will have followed the plight of the Hillsborough families, who had to fight for decades to see justice for their loved ones. Since that tragedy so many more have fallen victim to scandal and incompetence by the state, from those given infected blood products to the innocent postmasters framed by faulty computers.
The new Hillsborough law, promised in Labour’s manifesto and delivered by the government last week, will address the faults that contributed to these scandals. Its three core components establish new rights for victims, and new expectations of public bodies to prevent history being repeated.
The first is a “duty of candour”: public bodies must tell the truth whether it helps their defence or not. We know after Hillsborough that the police lied and changed witness statements. Medical records went “missing” after the infected blood was supplied, and Post Office bosses prevented incriminating evidence from being presented. All these will become criminal acts with this law.
The second is by creating two new offences of misconduct in public office, covering both wilful misconduct and wilful neglect. It also lists those who can be defined as a holder of public office, enabling up to 14 years imprisonment for the most serious misconduct.
The last is to make sure members of the public get proper legal representation, rather than the absurd and unjust situation that saw normal people facing the legal might of major organisations and institutions. This will allow victims and their families access to legal advocacy whenever they are facing a public authority.
These changes are overdue in holding public bodies to account, but we must also work further to hold private companies to account for their failings – as in the case of Grenfell, where serious institutional and regulatory failures were covered up or ignored.
This Labour government is committed to justice for those failed by the state. Though justice for the victims of these scandals means much more than this law, it will form a huge part of making sure public bodies perform to higher standards. When this standard is not met, it is thanks to the Hillsborough law that those responsible pay the price.
If you have been affected by a miscarriage of justice, or have another issue you would like to discuss, please email me on [email protected].