Hillsborough law: government leaves victims’ families disappointed again

Margaret Aspinall – whose son James, 18, was killed on 15 April 1989 – called for the full implementation of the families’ ‘Hillsborough law’ proposals. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

The city of Liverpool hosted some landmark days of vindication for the families of the 97 people unlawfully killed at Hillsborough as their long, agonising legal fight finally turned towards justice, but more recent years have been bleak and difficult.

Given that the government took six years to respond to the 2017 report it commissioned from James Jones, the former bishop of Liverpool, aimed at learning lessons from the Hillsborough scandal, the day of publication was always likely to fall into the more recent series of letdowns rather than celebrations.