Families bereaved by the Manchester Arena bombing have issued a powerful demand for greater transparency from MI5, declaring that the security service "failed them" and must be subject to rigorous external scrutiny.
A direct plea to the Prime Minister
In a letter sent to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and seen by the BBC, the relatives call for the Security Service to be fully included within the scope of a proposed new law designed to prevent cover-ups in public life. This legislation, known as the Hillsborough law or the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, would place a legal duty of candour on public officials and organisations following major disasters.
The demand follows the devastating findings of the Manchester Arena Inquiry, which concluded that the terrorist attack could have been stopped if MI5 had acted on crucial intelligence received in the months before the atrocity. "How many times must MI5 show that it cannot be trusted before something is done?" the families' letter pointedly asks.
The missed opportunity that cost 22 lives
On 22 May 2017, suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated a homemade rucksack bomb in the foyer of the Manchester Arena at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. The explosion killed 22 people, including children, and injured hundreds more.
In his final report published in March 2023, the inquiry chair, Sir John Saunders, a retired high court judge, stated that MI5's failure to act swiftly on two key pieces of intelligence represented a "significant missed opportunity". He found there was a "realistic possibility" that decisive action could have thwarted the plot.
Sir John revealed that Abedi had returned from Libya, where he had been fighting alongside Islamists, just four days before the attack. Had MI5 acted more firmly on the intelligence in its possession, his return would have been treated with extreme seriousness. This could have led to surveillance, potentially tracking him to the Nissan Micra where he stored his explosives and the rented city centre flat where he built the device.
Ongoing impact and a fight for accountability
The long-term consequences of the attack continue to unfold. In August 2020, Abedi's brother, Hashem Abedi, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 55 years for his role in assisting the plot. More recently, in December 2023, a judge ruled that close to £20 million is to be paid in compensation to 16 child victims. The awards, ranging from £2,770 to £11.4 million, reflect the catastrophic, life-changing physical injuries and profound psychological damage suffered.
The families' campaign now centres on ensuring such institutional failings are not shielded from view. By insisting MI5 is not exempt from the proposed Hillsborough law, they seek to guarantee that in future, truth and accountability are mandated from all public bodies, including the secretive security services.
