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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise 17:01 - Sep 24 with 1338 viewsbluelagos

To introduce a Hillsborough Law to include a duty of candour for all public servants.

I won't lie, I see that as a huge message to the 100s of police officers who took part in their cover up, that their conduct was so despicable that we need a new law to criminalise similar actions.

Perhaps if those responsible for unlawfully killing 97 football fans had been properly prosecuted and punished 35 years ago, those who lied about the Post Office scandal, who failed to address safety concerns at Grenfell or who hid the truth over infected blood would have taken different paths.

The culture of impunity for those in power shines bright in many cases, let's hope the new legislation has the teeth required to act as a deterrent and to bring a shift in the defensiveness of organisations when they mess up.

A duty of candour is just one part, a public advocate and legal funding for those who have lost loved ones is also part of the proposals.

Cheers to all who have supported the campaign.

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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 17:04 - Sep 24 with 1295 viewsNthQldITFC

I think a duty of candour for all public servants without any loopholes and with meaningful punishments would be a huge step forward for this country.

I'm still giving Starmer the benefit of the doubt for now (even though I find a lot of his stated positions untenable), but it could wear quite thin, quite quickly if he doesn't deliver.

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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 17:26 - Sep 24 with 1234 viewsMattinLondon

Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 17:04 - Sep 24 by NthQldITFC

I think a duty of candour for all public servants without any loopholes and with meaningful punishments would be a huge step forward for this country.

I'm still giving Starmer the benefit of the doubt for now (even though I find a lot of his stated positions untenable), but it could wear quite thin, quite quickly if he doesn't deliver.


Being naïve I was always under the impression that no one could lie to an enquiry etc. I was taken aback when I read that it wasn’t an offence. Makes you wonder what else some police officers (as well as other public servants) have lied about and got away with.

I’m with you in giving the benefit of the doubt to KS. Think I’ll give them a year before I become critical of him.

I’m pretty sure that his speech today mentioned renationalising the railways (I might be wrong) which will be good news.
[Post edited 24 Sep 2024 17:29]
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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 18:04 - Sep 24 with 1163 viewsfactual_blue

Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 17:26 - Sep 24 by MattinLondon

Being naïve I was always under the impression that no one could lie to an enquiry etc. I was taken aback when I read that it wasn’t an offence. Makes you wonder what else some police officers (as well as other public servants) have lied about and got away with.

I’m with you in giving the benefit of the doubt to KS. Think I’ll give them a year before I become critical of him.

I’m pretty sure that his speech today mentioned renationalising the railways (I might be wrong) which will be good news.
[Post edited 24 Sep 2024 17:29]


Anybody can lie to an enquiry, court of law etc.


The trick is getting away with it.


Whether they should lie is another matter.

Presumably the detail of all of this will include national security considerations?
[Post edited 24 Sep 2024 18:05]

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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 18:10 - Sep 24 with 1143 viewsSwansea_Blue

A step in the right direction and let’s hope they follow through with it.

(And without wanting to hijack the thread, we then need to see them roll back the weakening of environmental protections that happened in the last couple of years under the Tories. Water, chemical usage on foods, emissions targets, etc. You name it, there’s sh*tloads to do to start bringing us back on track).

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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 18:29 - Sep 24 with 1113 viewsWeWereZombies

Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 17:26 - Sep 24 by MattinLondon

Being naïve I was always under the impression that no one could lie to an enquiry etc. I was taken aback when I read that it wasn’t an offence. Makes you wonder what else some police officers (as well as other public servants) have lied about and got away with.

I’m with you in giving the benefit of the doubt to KS. Think I’ll give them a year before I become critical of him.

I’m pretty sure that his speech today mentioned renationalising the railways (I might be wrong) which will be good news.
[Post edited 24 Sep 2024 17:29]


The job in hand is going to take a lot longer than a year.

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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 18:39 - Sep 24 with 1081 viewsfactual_blue

Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 18:29 - Sep 24 by WeWereZombies

The job in hand is going to take a lot longer than a year.


The tories spent fourteen years trashing the country, so expect the restoration to take as long, and improvement even longer.

We've had the fourteen worst years of government in modern history, and a determined attack on the apparatus of governance during that time.

All in a futile attempt to save the 'natural party of government'.

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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 21:12 - Sep 24 with 930 viewsBlueBadger

I am 100% behind this. I've seen all sorts of fudging from senior management when they think they're in the sh1t in my time.

I'm one of the people who was blamed for getting Paul Cook sacked. PM for the full post.
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Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 08:00 - Sep 25 with 736 viewsChurchman

Starmer committed today to his manifesto promise on 17:26 - Sep 24 by MattinLondon

Being naïve I was always under the impression that no one could lie to an enquiry etc. I was taken aback when I read that it wasn’t an offence. Makes you wonder what else some police officers (as well as other public servants) have lied about and got away with.

I’m with you in giving the benefit of the doubt to KS. Think I’ll give them a year before I become critical of him.

I’m pretty sure that his speech today mentioned renationalising the railways (I might be wrong) which will be good news.
[Post edited 24 Sep 2024 17:29]


I agree with the OP. Basically, people should be held to account for lies and deceit, particularly when they gain personally from the outcome.

I will say that I believe the vast majority of public servants are decent and honest. They reflect society in that. There are some that are not and I too was astonished to find that it wasn’t an offence to lie to a public enquiry. I saw this sometimes first hand with the Select Committees I had (limited) involvement with.

Where I have concerns is where information is grey or not there. I guess it then comes down to how information is presented. A specific example is the 2007 data disc loss. When the chancellor announced this in the house, much of the information he gave was estimates and guesswork. I should know given I supplied it. I believe he got the balance right - at least I hope he did.

Where I’m coming to with this poor example is that I have no problem with people making decisions and on odd occasions getting it wrong if they do so in good faith. If you hammer people for getting things wrong there’s a danger they’ll never do anything in the first place. The worst of all worlds.

If however, they lie, cheat, steal deliberately distort, put their own interests before the people they serve (see Johnson, Cameron and 14 years of disfunctional a-holes) then they’re toast as far as I’m concerned.
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