Families bereaved in the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack have issued a direct plea to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, demanding that the UK's intelligence services are not exempt from a proposed new law designed to prevent official cover-ups.
The Core Demand: No Exemption for MI5
In a powerful letter, the relatives have insisted that MI5 must be fully subject to the so-called 'Hillsborough Law', officially titled the Public Office Accountability Bill. The legislation, currently progressing through Parliament, aims to create a legal 'duty of candour' compelling public officials and bodies to tell the truth during investigations into major disasters.
The push for the law follows the decades-long fight for justice by families of the 97 victims of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, where police were found to have spread false narratives and withheld evidence. The Manchester Arena families argue that similar transparency is crucial for the security services.
'How many times must MI5 show that it cannot be trusted before something is done?' the families ask pointedly in their letter to the Prime Minister.
A Pattern of Failure and Concealment
The demand stems from the findings of the public inquiry into the Arena attack, which concluded that MI5 did not provide an 'accurate picture' of key intelligence it held on suicide bomber Salman Abedi prior to the atrocity. On 22 May 2017, Abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds more.
The letter is signed by the families of Liam Curry, 19, Chloe Rutherford, 17, Megan Hurley, 15, Eilidh MacLeod, 14, and Kelly Brewster, 32. They state that MI5 failed twice: first by not preventing the attack, and then by its conduct afterwards.
'During the Manchester Arena inquiry, MI5 lied about the key intelligence it held about the suicide bomber before the attack,' the letter alleges. 'Despite MI5 lying to a public inquiry in this way, no one has been held to account.'
Legal Battle Over the Bill's Scope
Barrister Pete Weatherby KC, who represents both Hillsborough and Arena families and is a director of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, revealed that negotiations with the government over the bill's application to intelligence agencies have hit a snag.
He claims that after campaigners agreed a position where the duty would apply to individual intelligence officers, the government inserted a 'buried' clause in the draft legislation that would neuter its effect. 'The problem was that MI5 decided to protect themselves after the fact, and advance the false narrative,' Mr Weatherby told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He warned that without a robust legal duty, such failures could repeat, undermining public confidence. 'If this law is passed and they're required to tell the truth even when things go wrong, then failures can be rectified and people can be safer in the future.'
Claire Booth, sister of victim Kelly Brewster—who survived the blast but whose daughter was severely injured—said MI5's post-attack conduct was 'infuriating'. She felt treated like 'collateral damage', adding: 'the fact that they've then not been truthful about what their involvements were, what they knew… it all just adds insult to injury.'
The government has stated it is 'listening to feedback about how to strengthen [the law] whilst also protecting national security.' Prime Minister Keir Starmer has previously said the legislation would shift 'the balance of power in Britain' to stop the state hiding from the people.
The families are now holding him to that promise, concluding their letter: 'You made a personal promise that you would bring in the law. We're now asking you to keep that promise in full by ensuring the new law applies to the security and intelligence agencies in the same way it applies to everyone else.'
