Sir Keir Starmer is expected to use his final week as prime minister to push the long-delayed "Hillsborough law" through its remaining stages in the House of Commons. Officially the public office (accountability) bill, the legislation would strengthen support for families seeking justice after major disasters and create new offences for officials who deliberately mislead the public or obstruct accountability. Passing it would allow Starmer to leave office having delivered one of the defining manifesto commitments of his premiership, which he pledged at Labour's 2024 conference in Liverpool.

The bill takes its name from the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool supporters died in a crush at an FA Cup semi-final; a 2016 inquest ruled the victims were unlawfully killed and cleared fans of any blame. Progress had stalled amid clashes over how the law would apply to the intelligence services, with MI5, MI6 and GCHQ raising national security concerns, and a proposed amendment letting intelligence chiefs decide on disclosure was dropped after a backlash from families and Labour MPs. Confusion persisted last week, with Justice Secretary David Lammy saying he was "confident" the bill would return "in the coming days", while others suggested it would wait until after recess; parliamentary business has now been updated to schedule the bill's remaining Commons stages on Tuesday, before it moves to the Lords.