Manchester Arena bereaved families say MI5 must be fully included in new law on cover-ups

Families mourning the Manchester Arena bombing say MI5 failed them and should be fully included in a new law designed to stop cover-ups in public life.

In their letter to Sir Keir Starmer, seen by the BBC, they ask the prime minister: “How many times must MI5 show that it cannot be trusted before something is done?”

MI5 did not give an “accurate picture” of key intelligence it had on the suicide bomber who carried out the attack that killed 22 people and injured hundreds more on 22 May 2017, a public inquiry has found.

The “Hillsborough Bill” passed by Parliament followed campaigns by families affected by the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which killed 97 people.

Police leaders were identified as He spread false narratives about this disaster, blaming Liverpool fans. and they hid the evidence of their own failures.

The new law will force public officials to tell the truth during investigations, including those into major disasters.

But the director of the campaign behind the new law told the BBC he had been “misled” by the government during negotiations over how the law would apply to the intelligence services.

The government said: “We are listening to feedback on how to strengthen [the law] “At the same time, we protect national security.”

The new law, known as the Public Office (Liability) Act, has three pillars:

• The first imposes a general duty of honesty on all public officials; This means that they will be asked to proactively tell the truth in their working lives.
• The second is an auxiliary duty of honesty that applies to official investigations, including inquiries and investigations.
• Third, it is designed to rebalance funding for legal representation of government agencies and victims during investigations

The bill would introduce criminal sanctions for breach of duty of honesty.

Labour’s manifesto for the 2024 general election said: “Labour will introduce a ‘Hillsborough Bill’ which will impose a statutory duty of honesty on public servants and officials.”

Speaking last year, Sir Keir said the new law would change the “balance of power in Britain” to ensure the state “never hides from the people it is supposed to serve”.

But barrister Pete Weatherby KC, director of campaign group Hillsborough Law Now (HLN), told the BBC the government had “misled” him during negotiations over how the law would apply to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.

He represented victims’ families during the landmark Hillsborough inquests a decade ago and played a central role in making the new law a reality.

He also represented the bereaved families of the Manchester Arena attack during the public inquiry into that atrocity, for which MI5 was criticized for giving false accounts.

Weatherby said “the government has tried to put forward measures in relation to the intelligence services that sound better than they actually are, and we have ended up in a position that is absolutely not the position we negotiated with them.”

He said it was a “big problem” and “very disappointing”.

He said he accepted that the HLN had some warnings that would apply to MI5 and the intelligence services, as the prime minister himself had said.

During the Manchester Arena public inquiry and the earlier official review, MI5 gave an inaccurate account of the intelligence it received about the suicide bomber before the attack.

The chairman of the public inquiry concluded that the statements did not present an “accurate picture”. It also found that MI5 had missed a key opportunity to take action that could have prevented the attack.

Families of the five people killed in the Manchester Arena attack in 2017 have written to the prime minister, calling on MI5 and other services to ensure full implementation of the new law.

The authors of the letter are the families of Liam Curry, 19, Chloe Rutherford, 17, Megan Hurley, 15, from Liverpool, Eilidh MacLeod, 14, from the Isle of Barra, and Kelly Brewster, 32, from Sheffield, both from South Shields.

In the letter, the bereaved families say: “You made a personal promise to bring about the law.

“We now ask you to fully deliver on this promise by ensuring that the new law applies to security and intelligence agencies as it does to everyone else.”

The letter adds: “MI5 has failed both our loved ones and us.

“He did this by failing to prevent the Arena bombing. But then he failed, and his lack of forthrightness in the aftermath of the attack hurt us even more.

“During the Manchester Arena investigation, MI5 lied about crucial intelligence it had about the suicide bomber before the attack.

“Despite MI5 lying to the public inquiry in this way, no one has been held to account.

“This lack of accountability needs to change. Creating a full duty of integrity accountability across MI5, MI6 and GCHQ is the clearest way to create this change.

“We are appalled that, as the draft is now being written, MI5 and other organizations are being allowed to fully evade their responsibility for candor.

“Every security and intelligence officer should be expected to tell the truth, and the leaders of the organizations must bear full responsibility.

“How many times must MI5 show that it cannot be trusted before something is done?

“We urge you to keep your word and ensure that MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are held to the same standards as everyone else.”

Kelly Brewster’s sister, Claire Booth, survived the bombing and her daughter was seriously injured. He told the BBC that MI5’s behavior after the attack was “infuriating” and made him feel like “we had caused collateral damage”.

He added: “It was just one of those things that concerned MI5.

“They couldn’t stop it [the attack]but the fact that they aren’t honest about what their job is, what they know… all of this makes the injury worse. This isn’t fair.”

In response, a government spokesperson said: “The Hillsborough Bill will put a definitive end to the culture of cover-up and hiding the truth, ensuring transparency, accountability and support for people affected.

“The law will cover all public authorities, including intelligence agencies.

“The bill creating the Hillsborough Act is currently going through Parliament and we are listening to feedback on how we can strengthen it while protecting national security.”

Weatherby said the real problem was a provision that would result in the duty of honesty to individual security and intelligence officers being “eliminated”.

He said that, in the context of Manchester Arena case, this is crucial, adding that if the duty falls on the organization only, nothing will change.

If responsibility also falls on individual officials, they will risk criminal liability and sanctions if they sit on their hands while the corporate body lies to investigations and courts.

Last year MI5 was forced to apologize for giving false evidence to three courts about a neo-Nazi spy who is now under investigation by the regulator.

In December, MI5 apologized after it was heavily criticized by a major police investigation into the IRA spy known as Staeknife. MI5 had released the documents years late and provided misleading evidence about its knowledge of the spy.

Booth said intelligence services, like everyone else, should have a duty to be open and honest.

“And I think if that doesn’t apply to them, we’ll never know when things like the terrorist attacks or the Hillsborough disaster happened.”