The government has been forced to delay the next parliamentary stage of the long-awaited Hillsborough Law following a significant backlash from Labour MPs, Sky News understands.
What is the Hillsborough Law and Why is it Delayed?
The proposed legislation, formally known as the Public Office Accountability Bill, is designed to create a statutory 'duty of candour'. This legal obligation would require public servants to tell the truth during public inquiries and investigations, with legal consequences for those who do not. The bill is a direct response to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which resulted in 97 deaths, and the subsequent efforts by some officials to obscure the truth about the tragedy.
The next stage of the bill was scheduled for Wednesday, 13 January 2026, but has now been pushed back to the following Monday. This delay stems from a fierce political row over attempts to dilute the duty of candour as it applies to the UK's intelligence agencies.
The Crux of the Controversy: MI5 and MI6
According to Sky's deputy political editor, Sam Coates, the core issue revolves around whether the duty of candour should fully cover organisations like MI5 and MI6. Speaking on the 'Politics with Sam and Anne' podcast, Coates explained that the security services were "deeply uncomfortable" with the original proposals.
"A hell of a negotiation" ensued between campaign groups, Labour MPs, the Cabinet Office, and the intelligence services to ensure the duty was "proportionate." Campaigners accepted that there needed to be caveats and a compromise was reportedly hammered out, encapsulated in Clause 6 of the bill.
However, when the draft bill was published, campaigners and MPs felt betrayed. Coates revealed that the published text only established a corporate duty of candour for the security services. This means only the organisations themselves, not individual officers, could be compelled to testify, except in rare cases with specific authorisation from agency heads.
A "Mother of All Rebellions" and the Path Forward
This formulation, seen as a significant watering-down of the promised compromise, has sparked what insiders describe as "the mother of all rebellions." Labour MPs and campaigners argue it strips away the principle of individual accountability, which was a fundamental pillar of the proposed law.
The delay until next Monday is seen as a move by the government to manage this growing rebellion and potentially renegotiate the contentious clauses. The standoff highlights the ongoing tension between ensuring transparency and accountability for public servants and the operational secrecy demanded by the intelligence community.
The outcome of this dispute will be closely watched by the families of the Hillsborough victims and transparency campaigners, for whom the law represents a crucial step towards preventing future institutional cover-ups.
