Hillsborough families finally get meeting with Home Secretary following critical report
After five-and-a-half years families involved in the Hillsborough disaster have finally received a government response to a critical review of their experiences.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman travelled to Liverpool to meet with relatives of the 97 Liverpool fans who died as a result of the tragedy.
It follows the release of a report by the former Bishop of Liverpool into the families' experiences following the footballing disaster.
The report, entitled The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, was published by Bishop James Jones in November 2017, and aimed to ensure their suffering is not repeated.
It follows politicians calling the government's lack of response to the Hillsborough report "shameful" and "a devastating failure of responsibility and respect" to victims' families.
Margaret Aspinall who lost her 18-year-old son James in the disaster said "We've been promised things in the past and a lot of things hasn't come into fruition. I
"'m just hoping what they've said today will come into fruition. But I'm also hoping that a little bit more will be added. I'm hoping that eventually a Hillsborough Law will come out because I would like to see a legacy for them 97."
There have been four Home Secretaries since the former Bishop of Liverpool published his review.
Pointedly called 'The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power', he wanted to ensure the families' suffering wasn't repeated.
The Bishop called for institutions to sign up to a charter putting families first. The so-called 'Hillsborough Law' would see victims and their families given publicly-funded, equal legal representation and for organisations like the police to act with honesty, rather than prioritising their reputations.
Labour MP for Garston and Halewood Maria Eagle told ITV News "I can't say I'm wildly optimistic that they're going to do everything that he says he wants done, Bishop James said should be done, to stop another Hillsborough happening -that's what this is about.
"I don't see why they wouldn't have published before if that was the case. So I think we'll get a PR job saying, Oh, we're doing all this, we've done that, we've done this bit, we might not be doing that. We'll have to see the detail when they do publish."
Steve Kelly, who lost his brother in the Hillsborough tragedy, said "This meeting today, it's gone some ways to hopefully bring about massive change in the future for people. We've got some way to go yet to keep challenging. We'll see what the next couple of months brings."
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