Overview
- MPs hold the Bill’s Second Reading today, the first detailed Commons debate with a vote expected on moving it to committee.
- Justice Secretary David Lammy says the legislation must pass in its current strong form and should not be diluted.
- Core measures include a statutory duty of candour, criminal sanctions for lying or withholding information, and a new offence of misleading the public.
- The plan provides the biggest expansion of legal aid in a decade for bereaved families at inquests and curbs disproportionate state legal spending.
- Presented as a legacy of Hillsborough, Grenfell, infected blood, Post Office and Windrush cases, the government is understood to be targeting Royal Assent by spring 2026 as campaigners watch for changes.