The Hillsborough disaster in 1989 was emblematic of establishment classism, corruption, and propaganda in Thatcherite Britain. To this day, accountability has been elusive. And we very much doubt Keir Starmer’s lot is going to change that in any meaningful way. Any positives from the government’s Hillsborough Law will be welcome, of course. But we absolutely mustn’t let Starmer – or the state power he represents – off the hook.

Hillsborough Law: we’ll believe it when we see it

Starmer is desperate for a win as the vomit-worthy Peter Mandelson threatens to bring him down. And he clearly thinks that actually following through on a promise for once might help. But no one should forget his long relationship with the Sun – the paper that smeared Hillsborough victims. Despite knowing the damage the newspaper caused with its propaganda, Starmer has jumped into bed with it. Not only has he ignored Liverpool’s boycott of the right-wing rag by writing there on numerous occasions and advertising in it. He’s also employed a former Sun editor.

The framing of the government’s announcement, meanwhile, stinks of empty posturing that doesn’t match reality. Its title was Hillsborough Law to ensure truth never concealed by state again. And it promised that:

with this law, we are changing the balance of power in Britain and ensuring that the State can never hide from the people it is supposed to serve.

This, however, comes from a government that has cracked down on people opposing genocide, attacking free speech and protest to make pro-Israel donors happy. Amid overwhelming international consensus that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, Starmer and his team have denied and supported genocide while shaking hands with genocide-inciters. By calling people opposing Israeli war crimes ‘terrorists’, they’ve arrested more people than in any other year in recent history.

Meanwhile, there’s still no resolution to the massive Spycops political policing scandal. For decades, secretive police units used undercover officers to infiltrate activist organisations. Police targeted “around 1,000 campaigning and left wing groups”, only three of which were “‘a legitimate target’ for undercover policing of any kind”. And there have been constant delays in the search for justice, making it “one of the longest public inquiries in UK history”.

So excuse us if we doubt Starmer or the British state will stop hiding from justice any time soon.

Featured image via the Canary