Deputy PM says legislation will ensure public officials have duty to act with ‘honesty and integrity at all times’
The guilty escape justice. Well, not any more | David Lammy
Public servants who deliberately cover up state-related disasters will face up to two years in jail under a new Hillsborough law, David Lammy has promised, following concerns from campaigners that it could be watered down.
Writing in the Guardian, the deputy prime minister and lord chancellor said legislation would ensure that state actors from “the bobby on the beat to the highest office in the land” will face “serious punishments for serious wrongdoing”.
The long-awaited public office (accountability) bill will be introduced to parliament on Tuesday after months of behind-the-scenes wrangling between lawyers for the Hillsborough families and officials.
