Shadow Secretary Yvette Cooper calls government’s lack of response to Hillsborough report ‘shameful’

The Shadow Home Secretary has called the government's lack of response to the Hillsborough report "shameful" and "a devastating failure of responsibility and respect" to victims' families.

Ninety-seven football fans died as a result of a crush at a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989.

The Right Rev James Jones set out 25 recommendations in his report, The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, published in November 2017.

But five years on, the government has yet to comment on its findings.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: “The Home Secretary said it was because of active criminal proceedings but those finished 18 months ago and the work could have taken place even while those proceedings were ongoing.”

Ms Cooper called on the Government to “commit to support that Hillsborough Law”.

She added : “On the duty of candour, on the public advocate, on the elements of the Hillsborough Law, the Labour Party stands ready to support that law to get it into statute.

“So will the Government now commit to support that Hillsborough Law and to recognise what the bishop has said about it being intolerable, the pain to those families not to have a response.”

Echoing the shadow home secretary, Conservative former minister Sir Christopher Chope called on the Government to stop “blocking” a Bill that could introduce an independent public advocate who would act for bereaved families after a public disaster and support them at inquests and inquiries.

"It’s not good enough", he said. “Because what’s going to happen is that at the end of the spring the Government’s going to report, and then it’s going to say it’s going to say it’s going to take a long time to get any legislation.

“We have got a legislative opportunity before us… why doesn’t the Government agree to allow that Bill to have a second reading this Friday?”

The Home Office says the government will officially comment on report findings in the spring, five years on since it was first published.

Minister for Policing Chris Philp said: “The Government is fully committed to engaging with the Hillsborough families prior to the publication of the Government’s formal response.

“And I can also say that in particular since arriving in the Home Office two or three months ago, I have asked for this work to be sped up and we are expecting it to come out in the course of this spring.”

The pledge comes as National Police leaders apologised to the Hillsborough families for the first time in 33 years.

Labour MP for Liverpool Ian Byrne, himself a survivor of the 1989 tragedy, said “for so many, including myself, it’s far too little, far too late", calling on the government to "do the right thing for future generations" and implement a Hillsborough Law.

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