With parliament rising for the summer recess on Thursday, it will likely be Burnham’s only intervention from the backbenches of the House of Commons.
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill — widely called the Hillsborough law — is named after the 1989 tragedy in the Sheffield stadium where 97 Liverpool fans died following a crush.
The draft law imposes a duty on public bodies to tell the truth and cooperate with inquiries after survivors and the families of those who died campaigned for decades to find out what had happened. Subsequent investigations found police cover-ups and false narratives had been spread about the circumstances of the Hillsborough deaths.
‘Campaign for truth’
Burnham, who is originally from Liverpool, expressed his pride at seeing “this bill plant the values of the city of my birth at the heart of this country.”
He has repeatedly spoken about how being heckled by fans during a speech at Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield ground when he was culture secretary in 2009 changed his political outlook.
In what will be seen as a statement of intent, Burnham said the legislation will help other victims of injustice, citing the families of people killed in the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, nuclear test veterans and sub-postmasters who were falsely accused of stealing money.