Margaret Aspinall: Why I’m not afraid to tell Starmer how it is, and who we really should be praising on International Women’s Day
D.Determined, demanding responsibility and unafraid to say it, few people epitomize the idea of ”giving to gain” more than Margaret Aspinall.
Mrs Aspinall’s 18-year-old son James was among 97 Liverpool fans unlawfully killed in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. He has devoted 37 years since then to tireless campaigning; not just for the facts, but for the law to be changed so no one has to endure what he went through.
The justice campaign has faced obstacle after obstacle as it tries to dismantle a cover-up that continues to harm the entire city.
Merseyside players attending the 1989 FA Cup semi-final were accused by police and sections of the media of being drunk and without tickets, and were blamed for the disaster that ensued. Initial inquests in 1991 returned a verdict of accidental death, but it was canceled in 2012 following the findings of an independent panel and campaigns by families.
New inquests in 2016 exonerated the Liverpool fans, finding that those who died following the match at Sheffield were unlawfully killed, and stated that “errors and negligence” by the police contributed to the causes. South Yorkshire Police’s match commander, David Duckenfield, was charged with manslaughter by gross negligence but was found not guilty following a retrial in 2019. Yet no police officer was ever held accountable.
For the fourth year in a row, Independent It releases its impact list on International Women’s Day, and its “give to win” theme highlights the sacrifices these women make, as well as the impact they have on the world around them.
Ms Aspinall appeared on the list a year after the Public Office (Liability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Act, was introduced to parliament in a landmark moment in September 2025. That same month, he introduced the prime minister to the Labor Party conference in his hometown and gave a speech in which he called for the law to be fully implemented.
The legislation, a major commitment from Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor government through its “duty of integrity”, is designed to force public servants and contractors to tell the truth in the wake of disasters and prevent future cover-ups.
The bill’s progress in parliament has since been met with delays; The latest came as a result of the security services’ concerns about national security, to the disappointment of Ms Aspinall and her campaign colleagues. But he does not stop and is not afraid to tell the prime minister what is expected of him.
“I think we have about 90 percent of it. [done]”Maybe 95 percent,” he said. Independent. “But as I said to Keir Starmer’s face, I don’t want half measures, I want the whole thing.
“No matter who they are, no matter what they are, everyone must be held accountable. They are no different from anyone else. That’s why we are determined to pass a law to ensure that such a thing never happens again in the future of this nation.”
Ms Aspinall’s speech to the Labor Party conference warned the party against complacency. The fight for the Hillsborough Act had not yet been won.
He therefore said it was a “difficult decision” to bring Sir Keir to Liverpool, but reassured him with promises Labor would follow the law. She had been asked to prepare a script for approval, but in all her years of public speaking, this was not something Ms. Aspinall had ever done.
“I feel like if you write a script, you go wrong,” he said. “I hope I was honest with myself and 97 and the fans who were there that day and went through a lot and that was all I cared about and thought about at the time.”
The “give to win” theme resonates with Ms Aspinall, who underlines the importance of selflessness for a campaign like hers. The Hillsborough families’ business is deeply personal, but they won’t be the ones to profit from it. “The law of averages means something like this could happen again, we only had to look at Grenfell and you only had to look at the Manchester arena bombing,” Ms Aspinall explained.
The Hillsborough Law Now campaign group is made up of many mothers, sisters and daughters who lost loved ones in 1989 and Ms Aspinall is proud to be among the strong women. But receiving praise for their efforts doesn’t come naturally.
About highlighting Independent‘s Influence List, she said: “I’m not really that person. There are so many women behind the scenes that we should all praise.”
“Not just the Hillsborough families, you look at some of the Grenfell families who were fighting and campaigning, Bloody Sunday, the campaigns they’ve been running all these years, the Post Office scandal.
“It makes me so proud to see all these women, these strong, powerful women. But what I’m proudest of more than anything is that if 97 people died for anything, they died changing something.”
Ms Aspinall, the long-serving chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, had to sacrifice time with her children in leading the fight.
“I couldn’t have done this if my husband didn’t help me with the family, kids and housework,” she said.
“What kept me going was of course the love for my child, but also when you look at families, it was the love they had for their children, their husbands, their fathers, whoever it was.
“They all suffered… but it always takes a woman to try to change things for the better.”
The 79-year-old added: “I told Keir Starmer that I want this done before I die. My voice is not my voice; this is my son’s voice. This is what he wants and 96 other people will want. I’m proud of it.”
Read The Independent’s impact list for International Women’s Day 2026 Here.
