MPs have given their approval to government legislation introducing a “duty of candour” on civil servants and other public officials to prevent future cover-ups.
The public office (accountability) bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, imposes a duty on public authorities and officials to “act with candour, transparency and frankness” and creates an offence for misleading the public.
The legislation has been delayed by disagreements over how the duty of candour should apply to the intelligence services, but ministers broke the deadlock with a series of amendments which MPs aproved on Tuesday.
The bill will now go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny before it can become law.
It is named after the Hillsborough disaster, which led to 97 Liverpool FC fans dying as a result of crowd-control failings at an FA Cup semi-final match in April 1989. South Yorkshire Police wrongly blamed supporters for the disaster and the real story of what happened at the ground took decades to be acknowledged.
Andy Burnham, who is set to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister next week, said the bill would be “truly a rewiring of the state” in his first intervention in the House of Commons since becoming an MP last month.
Burnham added: “We have had a situation in this country where people suffer the trauma of the initial bereavement, the incident that took their loved ones away, and then they are re-traumatised by the behaviour of the state.
“We can’t take that hurt away tonight. But we can put decency back at the heart of the British state, and that is what this bill does.”
Paying tribute to Starmer, he said the PM had “honoured his commitment to the Hillsborough families” and that the legislation was “happening because of the prime minister’s commitment to a country based on justice and fairness”.
Starmer told campaigners would continue to fight for the cause in his post-No.10 life.
“Whatever happens next in my life, I’m never giving up on this,” he said. “While I’ve got breath in my body, I’m going to campaign on all these issues with all of you for as long as is necessary.”
On the amendments which saw the bill pass through the House of Commons, justice minister Catherine Atkinson they would ensure the duty of candour "applies to all individual intelligence officers while establishing secure procedures for the disclosure of sensitive information".