Hillsborough: Teach children about the disaster, MPs say

Ninety-seven people died as a result of the crush at the 1989 football match

The Hillsborough disaster should be taught to schoolchildren as part of the national curriculum, ministers have been told.

Labour MP Ian Byrne, who survived the 1989 tragedy, is backed by 30 MPs in his Commons Early Day Motion (EDM).

The MP for Liverpool West Derby wants the disaster and the continuing campaign for justice to be taught.

He has spoken movingly in Parliament about his experiences of the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final.

Earlier this year, he fought back tears as he recalled being left "questioning my own eyes" after "smears" and "lies" were pushed by police and other establishment figures.

Survivors and the families of the 97 fans who lost their lives as a result of the disaster have been involved in a three-decade campaign in pursuit of justice.

Labour's Ian Byrne is a Hillsborough survivor

A jury at new inquests in 2016 found 96 fans who died as a result of the crush had been unlawfully killed.

In July a coroner concluded Andrew Devine, who died 32 years after being hurt at Hillsborough, was also unlawfully killed, becoming the "97th fatality".

The EDM states: "That this House acknowledges that, 32 years after the Hillsborough disaster, criminal trials collapsed in May 2021 and nobody has been held to account for the unlawful killings of 97 innocent people.

"(It) acknowledges that it took 23 years of campaigning for the truth about the disaster to be finally acknowledged at the Hillsborough Independent Panel and for lies and smears about victims and survivors to be corrected.

"(It) further acknowledges that it took 27 years for the true inquest verdicts of unlawful killing to be recorded.

"(It) recognises the important work of the honourable member for Garston and Halewood (Labour's Maria Eagle) in getting Parliament to learn lessons from the disaster and her work to introduce legislation that would ensure that bereaved families and survivors of future disasters never go through the injustices faced by the Hillsborough families and survivors."

The MP wants it to be included in the Citizenship section of the curriculum.

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