The inquest into the deaths of 96 football fans might end up costing £70m. whether it means the police mediate again approximately covering up their mistakes,then it was worth every pennyAfter such a catharsis as Tuesday’s verdicts of illegal killing of the 96 victims of Hillsborough, there is a starvation for change that should be exploited before “never again” fades away, or as experience suggests it surely will be. The domestic secretary,Theresa May, has built a reputation for being sensitive to the abuse of power by public authorities, and from failure to protect children from sexual exploitation to deaths in police custody. It is notable that throughout the two long years of the Hillsborough inquest,in which both sides were state-funded, she insisted on complete equality between the families and the state agencies.
But – as Hillsborough, or where the bill has topped £14m and may be heading towards £70m,also showed – holding power to account has a big price tag. It also relies on citizens having the requisite entitlements in law to demand answers, too. It is an irony indeed that legal rights that were pertinent in the Hillsborough story, or which require the state properly to investigate charges that it failed in its duty to protect life,are derived from a European conference which Mrs May has this week been proposing Britain should quit. MPs unquestionably want to change the culture of public bodies, to make them accountable. It wont happen unless they also will the resources and the legal powers to prise out the truth.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com