Prime Minister Theresa May has claimed that she “ensured” justice for the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster, and families, survivors, and campaigners are furious. She brought it up during a list of the “British values” she has upheld throughout her life when she was questioned by MPs about her support for President Donald Trump.
When May claimed that as Home Secretary when the 2012 Hillsborough inquests were ordered, she “ensured justice for Hillsborough families,” she ticked off the people involved in the disaster because she said nothing of the decades of protesting and campaigning that she ignored before finally doing something just five years ago.
Huge negative response to her comments on social media
Steve Kelly spoke out against the PM. Kelly’s brother Michael was killed at Hillsborough at the age of 38. He called the comments “very disrespectful” and described it as an attempt by May “to jump onto the Hillsborough bandwagon now that it suits them.” He added, “It’s a pity politicians didn’t get behind us all those years ago,” and blamed the government for the longevity of the situation. He accused May of “jumping on the bandwagon to score political points for herself.”
May’s use of the word “ensured” caught the eye of Charlotte Hennessy, whose father Jimmy died in the Hillsborough disaster at the age of 29 when she was just 6. She called it “a very strange choice of word,” since May ensured that legal costs were paid, but “she did not ‘ensure’ that we have justice because we don’t have justice, describing justice in this case as “truth” as well as “an honest death certificate.”
Hennessy says that just after the inquests, she went to see Home Secretary May and asked her “if she was willing to support our proposal for a ‘Hillsborough Law’...and she would not give me an answer!” She claims that May “ensured” nothing, and it is instead “the Hillsborough families, the brave survivors and dedicated campaigners” who we have to thank.
‘All we have are verdicts for 96 causes of death’
Louise Brookes, whose 29-year-old brother Andrew died at Hillsborough, tweeted: “We as families still do not have justice. All we have are verdicts for 96 causes of death.” She said that justice has not yet been done and won’t be done until “certain people are made accountable for their actions and lack of actions and they are behind prison bars.”
Phil Scraton, head writer of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report, said that despite May’s claims, “the inception, process and outcome of the inquests had nothing to do with her.” Hillsborough survivor Damian Kavanagh said he was “stunned and sickened” by May’s comments, saying she was “claiming credit for something she had nothing to do with.” He wants May to clarify her statement, which suggests that either she’s lying or she knows something that the public doesn’t. He said, “If there is something else, then I think we all have a right to know.”
