Birmingham pub bombings` victims remembered as MPs demand fair funding for their families` legal costs
MPs have insisted that the families of the 21 people who died in the Birmingham pub bombings more than four decades ago must receive fair funding for new inquests.
Oct 27, 2016
By Nick Hudson
MPs have insisted that the families of the 21 people who died in the Birmingham pub bombings more than four decades ago must receive fair funding for new inquests.
Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips led a House of Commons adjournment debate urging the Government to ensure relatives received sufficient legal aid.
She was backed by Labour and Conservative MPs from Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country.
Relatives have been told that one of their applications for legal aid has been successful, and they have been given advice about how a second application might also win approval.
But MPs pointed out that issues considered at the inquest would be the actions taken by the police and security services.
Families should have the same level of financial support as the official law enforcement agencies which will come under scrutiny and which will have their own, taxpayer-funded legal teams, MPs said.
Home Office Minister Sir Oliver Heald listened to their comments but declined repeated requests to promise equal funding, saying: Whats important is that there should be an element of equality of arms, in the sense that the work that needs to be done for the families should be done effectively.
The Birmingham Pub Bombings on November 21, 1974, were among the worst terrorist attacks in British history. Bombs planted in two pubs, the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town, killed 21 people and injured 182 others.
New inquests into the deaths are to be overseen by the former Chief Coroner of England and Wales, Peter Thornton.
A pre-inquest review is scheduled for November 28, but those taking part in the hearings need to make submissions to the inquests within days.
Mrs Phillips, surrounded by Birminghams Labour MPs as she spoke on Wednesday (October 26), pointed that the call for funding had cross-party support and was backed by Tory MPs including Caroline Spelman (Meriden) and Julian Knight (Solihull), who also attended the debate along with Dudley South MP Mike Wood.
She told the House of Commons that the victims had been largely forgotten outside the region because people associated the pub bombings with the Birmingham Six the men who were wrongly convicted of the killings and eventually released.
She read out the names of all those who died Desmond Reilly, Eugene Reilly, Maxine Hambleton, Jane Davis, Michael Beasley, Lynn Bennett, Stanley Bodman, James Caddick, Thomas Chaytor, James Craig, Paul Davis, Charles Gray, Anne Hayes, John Jones, Neil Marsh, Marylin Nash, Pamela Palmer, Maureen Roberts, John Rowland, Trevor Thrupp, and Stephen Whalley as MPs listened and added: The victims of these killings are not confined to those who died.
Parents, brothers, sisters, children and other relatives had their lives changed forever, she added.
She insisted families felt they had been strung along and misled by Government Ministers as they battled to win funding.
Mrs Phillips told the Government: Hundreds of my constituents and thousands of Brummies have written letters and signed petitions to support these families.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn attended the debate to hear Ms Phillips speak. It is very unusual for the leader of a major party to support this type of debate led by a backbench MP.
Mrs Phillips has a strong connection to the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings. Her father, Stuart Trainor, taught one of the victims, Maxine Hambleton.
And Maxine`s sister, Julie Hambleton, now leads the Justice for the 21 campaign group.
Mrs