Lawyer Elkan Abrahamson, who drafted the Hillsborough bill, said he fears campaigners and families have a ‘fight’ on their hands after officials tried to water it down
A lawyer who drafted the Hillsborough bill has said he fears campaigners and families have a “fight” on their hands.
Elkan Abrahamson warned the Government that they will not let it “kick it away” after officials tried to water it down. He threatened to “ramp up” their campaign if a solution is not found quickly.
Keir Starmer on Tuesday missed his pledge to introduce a law before the anniversary of the 1989 tragedy after progress stalled on the draft legislation. Mr Abrahamson said the issue was not so much that the PM failed to meet his deadline but that there had been a “betrayal” in what he had promised and what was in the redrafted version of the bill.
In his first Labour conference speech as PM in Liverpool last year, Mr Starmer said a law aimed at preventing future state cover-ups would be introduced to Parliament “before the next anniversary” of the Hillsborough disaster.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer misses anniversary Hillsborough law deadline – ‘huge disappointment’
Speaking to the Mirror, Mr Abrahamson said: “It’s not so much a timing issue. It’s a content issue. They’ve come up with a totally unreasonable draft. We feel there’s been a betrayal of Keir’s promise at successive conferences and he’ll have to account for himself at the next conference.”
He said the new version “doesn’t even include a duty of candour” – a key component of the original plan. He added: “I think the families prefer the deadline to be missed than the wrong bill to go forward, but it looks like we’re going to have a fight on our hands.”
The Hillsborough Law Now (HLN) group, which is backed by victims of other injustices including the Grenfell Tower fire and the infected blood scandal, is currently waiting for the Government to come back to them but said they won’t wait long, nor back down.
If the legislation doesn’t meet their demands, Mr Abrahamson, who is a solicitor for Broudie Jackson Canter and director of the HLN campaign, threatened to “ramp up the campaign”, adding: “We’ll say the government has let us down and not lived up to their promises.”
It comes after Keir Starmer abruptly pulled out of a meeting with Hillsborough families a few weeks ago amid fears the bill was being watered down. Tuesday marked 36 years since 97 fans were killed by a crush at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. They were found to have been unlawfully killed after gross negligence by police, who also lied and doctored evidence.
Mr Abrahamson said the draft Hillsborough bill, which he drew up with human rights barrister Pete Weatherby, put a duty on public servants to come forward and cooperate with inquiries without being asked and not to mislead inquiries or the public. It also included a commitment to legal funding to help victims in David and Goliath-style battles with official bodies. Mr Abrahamson said the bill drafted by the government does not contain any of these things.
A Government spokeswoman said: “The Hillsborough disaster is one of the greatest stains on British history, and the families of those who lost loved ones have shown endless determination to get justice. Having consulted with these groups over the past few weeks, we believe more time is needed to draft the best version of a Hillsborough Law. We remain fully committed to bringing in this legislation at pace, which will include a legal duty of candour for public servants and criminal sanctions for those who refuse to comply.”
READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster
