By Bill Esterson MP - 9th February 2012
A new inquest is needed to get to the bottom of what really happened at Hillsborough in 1989, says Bill Esterson MP
Twenty-three years ago, 94 men, women and children went to a football game at Hillsborough and suffered injuries so severe they died. By 1993 the death toll had risen to the final number of 96.
There are many witnesses who say that many fans who died were alive and well after 3.15pm, but the coroner decided that all those who died on the day were dead by 3.15pm.
Fifteen year-old Kevin Williams, who lived in Formby in my constituency, died at Hillsborough that day. There are a number of people who say that they were with Kevin up to nearly 4pm. Those people all tried to save Kevin's life, but were unable to do so as they lacked the necessary medical training. The people who tried to help Kevin included at least one police officer, yet their testimony was ignored by the coroner.
The suspicion from families, friends and supporters is that the 3.15pm cut-off is a convenient way of avoiding evidence that lives could have been saved if ambulances had been allowed on the pitch and if police officers had been told to help people out of the Leppings Lane pens.
A new coroners' inquest would allow evidence to be presented that Kevin Williams was still alive after 3.15pm. That in turn would mean that recognition could be given to the families, on decisions that ultimately denied their loved ones medical care or rescue – decisions that cost lives. Those who took such disastrous decisions could be held accountable after all these years for causing the deaths of the 96 people who died, deaths which could have been prevented had action been taken as soon as it was clear there was a problem.
Kevin's mother, Anne Williams, is one of a number of people who have fought since that day to get the truth about what happened at Hillsborough officially recognised. Kevin's sister, Sara, still lives in Formby and tells me she just wants to know the truth.
A petition, launched by Anne Williams, has been successful in gaining the required number of signatures to request a debate in Parliament about a new inquest into Kevin's death. Over 100,000 people signed that petition, and a number of MPs asked for a debate to be organised by the backbench business committee. The backbench business committee is given a limited amount of time to arrange debates by the government and has very little time, given the range of issues which it is asked to support. The committee gave the time for the previous Hillsborough debate at which the home secretary, Theresa May, made a number of promises about releasing papers including those from Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, about what happened at Hillsborough.
It seems to me that the government should not be asking the backbench business committee to find time for debates, when it made a promise to let people have time in Parliament if they gained 100,000 signatures on a petition. That is an issue for another day, but I will be pressing the government to hold a debate in the main House of Commons Chamber at some point.
A number of my colleagues and I applied for a debate in the second chamber of the House of Commons, Westminster Hall. The debate has been granted to Stephen Mosley, Anne Williams' current MP, on 22 February. However, Westminster Hall is not the same as the House of Commons' main Chamber and there will not be a vote in Westminster Hall. I believe that a vote calling for a new inquest would be very hard to ignore, and I believe that a debate needs to be held in the main Chamber of the House of Commons unless a new inquest is arranged. The attorney general has said he is considering a new inquest. He needs to make that happen. A vote in the House of Commons will show the strength of feeling from MPs of all parties and from the public.
Kevin, and more especially his mum, deserve the full support of MPs and so do the other families. Justice must be done, and be seen to be done for the 96 and for their families.
Bill Estersonhas been Labour MP for Sefton Central since 2010.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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