Hillsborough law: state has let down victims’ families once again

Government’s new measures are inadequate for the relatives of the 97 people unlawfully killed at Liverpool match in 1989

The city of Liverpool hosted some landmark days of vindication for the families of the 97 people unlawfully killed at Hillsborough as their long, agonising legal fight finally turned towards justice, but more recent years have been bleak and difficult.

Given that the government took six years to respond to the 2017 report it commissioned from James Jones, the former bishop of Liverpool, aimed at learning lessons from the Hillsborough scandal, the day of publication was always likely to fall into the more recent series of letdowns rather than celebrations.