Hillsborough debate: More MPs condemn "national scandal"

MPs are debating the release of previously secret documents relating to the Hillsborough disaster to the families of the victims.

Former Liverpool lord mayor Steve Rotheram held the Commons spellbound with his powerful speech. Other MPs are now having their say.

Live blog: Follow Parliament's Hillsborough debate as it happened

Hillsborough debate: MP Rotheram attacks "establishment cover-up" in powerful speech  

Steve Rotheram's Hillsborough debate speech: Read the full transcript

Here's the latest...

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."

Mr Burnham said Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield had started briefing officials at the Football Association that Liverpool fans had broken in through Gate C at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium even as fans lay dying on the pitch when he had ordered the gate to be opened.

Blood samples were taken from the victims to test for alcohol while the victims' families were interviewed like suspects, he said.

Mr Burnham said he also wanted to know who had briefed the Sun and other newspapers with claims that the disaster was the fault of fans.

News International should reveal its sources, he told MPs, while the solicitors for South Yorkshire Police in the wake of the tragedy should also release documents it still holds.

Although shadow health secretary, Mr Burnham answered the Government in the House of Commons instead of shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper as he comes from Merseyside and had followed the campaign.

He said he had no doubt that the Government was not trying to suppress information when it opposed the FOI request but said its response risked undermining public trust in the panel to disclose all the documents.

Ministers should issue updated terms of reference for the panel, he said, adding that any redactions should be made with the support of the panel.

Mr Burnham added: "The Home Secretary has this evening removed any lingering doubt and put the Government's commitment to full disclosure firmly on the record.

"I believe there should be a clear presumption of no redactions to any material."

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Tory Esther McVey (Wirral West) 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."

Labour's Derek Twigg (Halton), 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".

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt stood up during the debate to apologise for past comments relating to the disaster.

He said: "What I said was sloppily worded, it caused great offence, I have huge regrets for it and the families were incredibly generous in accepting the apology that I made to them."

Lib Dem John Pugh (Southport) spoke of the "single-minded pursuit of the truth".

He said: "We owe it to them (the relatives) and to the victims to ensure that what actually passes into history is so far as possible not a myth, not a convenient narrative, but so far as humanly possible, a truthful, full account of events as they were."

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Louise Ellman (Lab, Liverpool Riverside) said: "The Hillsborough tragedy killed 96 people and left a profound effect on families and the community.

"Lost lives cannot be regained but the families have waited too long for the full truth."

Tory Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) told the chamber: "Many families are still aggrieved about the 3.15pm cut-off point which meant the inquests were unable to consider the response of the emergency services after that time.

"It is now time for the questions to be answered."

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."

Tory Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) added: "This really was the definition of a disaster waiting to happen.

"I want to ensure we have learnt the lessons of Hillsborough so my children will be able to experience the magic of match day in the safest possible environment."

Labour's George Howarth (Knowsley) said he had been reassured by the Home Secretary's commitment the Government would not redact information contained in papers passed to the independent panel.

He said: "The thing that is most important for the families is that light is shone into the dark corners that so far have not been revealed. I hope this process will do that."

Conservative Therese Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) recounted the occasion which meant the tragedy became real to her.

She said: "I recall it hit home at a school assembly on the Monday morning when we were asked to pray for someone who died who had been a pupil at the school. That twisted the knife even further and it was not even someone I particularly knew."

She backed a call this week for clubs to stamp out Hillsborough chants.

She said: "It's not often I support Sir Alex Ferguson. But I supported him when he said the time has come to end the vile chanting about Hillsborough.

"I call on Premier League clubs to show those chants are treated as if they are racist chants."

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Labour's Clive Betts, leader of Sheffield City Council at the time, was at the game as a guest of Sheffield Wednesday.

Mr Betts (Sheffield SE): "It took an awful long time, even for people sitting there watching events, to realise the horror of what had actually happened.

"Initially we were told 60 people had died, then it became more, of course, as the events unfolded.

"I remember simply going back to the directors' box to be kept abreast of events and just sitting with the directors and one or two friends were there and crying.

"What else could you do? This was in our city, in my football ground, 96 people had died before our eyes. What else could you do?"

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Labour's Frank Field (Birkenhead) said the last time he could remember ministers remaining on the front bench for the duration of a debate was during the Falklands War.

He said the victims' families faced an "unspeakable horror" of having to read that their loved ones were to blame for the tragedy and that News International should now make a public apology.

He said closure could only be brought about through "complete revelation" of the facts if that was what the panel decided.

Mr Field added: "My plea to the Home Secretary ... is to make sure that all the evidence is made available, that no piece of paper is withheld from the inquiry panel, that no one can whip up any debate that we don't really know even now what took place.

"None of us can undo those events, none of us can undo the injustice that families in Birkenhead, in Merseyside and beyond have suffered, but News International can help draw a line under these events and also we, in support of the Home Secretary, can make sure that this is the last inquiry, the last panel, the last effort to put out into the public domain what actually happened."

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Labour's Alison McGovern (Wirral S) struggled to hold back tears as she recalled watching the game on TV with her father.

"I can still see the look on his face now, because he knew what was happening. Football fans all over Britain knew - they were watching on TV, listening on radios from other football grounds.

"Thousands and thousands were gripped with horror as bodies were pulled out of the pens in the Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough ground and thousands prayed for the safety of those being carried across the pitch, on cheap advertising hoardings for stretchers."

Her emotional speech received a round of applause from the public gallery as she said: "We've already waited 22 years for the truth and we can't wait any longer".

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Rosie Cooper (Lab, W Lancashire), a former lord mayor of Liverpool, said: "These people didn't go off to war.

"They weren't out with the intention of rioting or fighting; it wasn't an unforeseen natural disaster.

"They went, as fathers and sons, brothers, sisters and mates to a football match, an afternoon of escapism and entertainment at the end of a working week which was met by an absolutely disastrous failure on the part of the officials, the police and then came the malicious stories and lies promulgated by the press."

Stars line up behind Hillsborough families