THE Government has promised to release all documents relating to the Hillsborough tragedy after an emotional and moving debate in the House of Commons ended with a unamimous motion to support the move.
Led by Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotherham, one MP after another stood and spoke of the need to support the Hillsborough families watching from the public gallery and release all Government files, unredacted and unchanged.
At times, the protocol of the chamber came close to being broken, with Wirral South MP Alison McGovern shaking with emotion and looking near to tears during her speech, which earned warm applause from the public gallery.
In response, Home Secretary Theresa May told the chamber: “I will do everything in my power to ensure the families and the public get the truth.”
Mrs May said the Government would release the papers to the Hillsborough Independent Panel. The panel, chaired by Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, was set up to look at the options for creating an archive of Hillsborough material and ensuring the maximum possible public disclosure of the information. It began its work in February last year.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said earlier it was a matter for the panel to decide when to pass on the official documents to the Hillsborough families or to publish them more widely.
The Government opposed a Freedom of Information request to release the files, but Mrs May said that was because ministers believed they should be given to the families first before wider publication.
Mr Rotheram was watched by campaigners and relatives of the victims as he read out the names of the dead, while MPs sat in respectful silence on the green benches of the Commons. You can read Steve Rotherham's full Hillsborough debate speech by clicking here.
He said following the disaster “instead of those at fault taking responsibility for their actions, a co-ordinated campaign began to shift the blame and look for scapegoats”.
Mr Rotheram continued: “It is claimed that truth is the first casualty of war, but the same can be said of Hillsborough.
“Misdirection, obfuscation and damn lies were all used as smokescreens to deflect attention away from the guilty.
“Institutional complacency and gross negligence, coupled with an establishment cover-up, have added to the sense that this was an orchestrated campaign to shift blame from those really responsible on to the shoulders of Liverpool fans.”
Mr Rotheram also tore into the Sun newspaper over its infamous “The Truth” headline and story which alleged drunken and criminal behaviour by Liverpool fans.
“This was one of the cruellest blows,” he said as he branded the paper’s then editor Kelvin MacKenzie a “pariah”.
Labour's Andy Burnham said the tragedy was one of the ``biggest injustices of the 20th century''.
The victims’ families had faced a series of obstacles in their “hard and lonely struggle” to find the truth, he said.
Addressing MPs in the Commons, he said that when the documents were finally released it would require a national response to what was a “national scandal”. He said he had his own “private disappointments” that more had not been done to reveal the truth under the last Labour government.
“Something else makes Hillsborough stand apart,” Mr Burnham said. “Has there ever been, or will there ever be, another tragedy when within minutes an orchestrated campaign began to blame the victims, their families, friends and fellow supporters?
“That is precisely what happened here. It is unprecedented in the recent history of our country, an unbelievable act of brutality against 96 families, already suffering unbearable grief.”
Tory Wirral West MP Esther McVey recalled how her cousin was at the event and was one of those fans who stepped forward and was asked to help the injured.
She said: “It was that help that was so cruelly and inaccurately misrepresented in tabloids.”
She added: “I want to be part of a Parliament and a Government that does right by the families who have carried so much pain for so long. It is a time for words to come to an end, it is a time for action. It is time to release all those documents in its entirety.”
Halton MP Derek Twigg, who was there at the time, said he watched “the whole horror of this disaster unfold”.
He said: “It does beggar belief that the police and those responsible couldn’t see that that was happening, you had to see it to believe it. It was quite unbelievable that they could actually allow that to happen.”
He paid tribute to the “dignified and determined way” the affected families had pursued their fight for justice in spite of the “terrible slur perpetrated by the police with the help of certain sections of the press in blaming Liverpool supporters for the disaster”.
Labour’s Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood) condemned efforts to shift the blame for the disaster on to the victims.
She said: “It has left fully understandable distrust of officialdom.
“One of the first things senior officers in charge on that day did was to lie about whether the gates were open. And South Yorkshire Police briefed The Sun newspaper.
“It is about time we know just who gave those stories to The Sun. I join the families today in calling on News International to tell us.
“No one responsible has ever had to account for the loss of control on that day or the despicable behaviour which followed for a period of years after.”
