Keir Starmer ‘engaging with campaigners’ on Birmingham pub bombings but does not commit to inquiry

Sir Keir Starmer has said “we are engaging with the communities and campaigners” affected by the Birmingham pub bombings, but declined to commit to an inquiry.

Earlier this week, relatives of people killed in the 1974 bombings renewed calls for a public inquiry “as a matter of urgency” ahead of the 50th anniversary of the IRA atrocities.

Speaking to BBC Radio WM as part of a wider local radio round, Sir Keir Starmer conveyed his “deepest sympathies” to those affected when asked about an inquiry.

He added: “We are engaging with the communities and campaigners, it’s very important that we do, and we’ll listen to what they’re asking for, and so we’ll continue to engage with them.”

Sir Keir said his thoughts are “with everybody affected by this, particularly those that lost someone”.

Pushed again on whether there would be a public inquiry the Prime Minister said “we’re engaging on that with the community and the campaigners”.

Asked how long people are going to have to wait for an answer, he went on: “We’ll obviously keep talking to them, engage and come to a decision as quickly as we can. But it is important that we listen to as many voices as possible, and that’s what the Home Office is doing.”

Twenty-one people died and about 200 were injured on November 21 1974 when bombs exploded minutes apart in the Mulberry Bush, at the foot of the Rotunda building, and the Tavern In The Town in New Street, in what remains the worst unsolved terrorist atrocity committed in Great Britain.

Earlier this week, Julie and Brian Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine Hambleton died in the twin blasts, said they believe an inquiry could disclose new evidence capable of leading to a new investigation into the bombings.

Speaking near a permanent memorial to the victims outside New Street station, within sight of the Rotunda building, Julie Hambleton said of this week’s anniversary of the attacks: “Fifty years for us is just like last week, and for the survivors too, I would imagine that they re-live it in their sleep with nightmares.”

Ms Hambleton, who founded the long-running Justice4The21 campaign group with her brother, added: “It’s something that never goes away and something that you never forget.

“And that’s why our campaign exists, to be the voice of those who are not here to fight for justice and truth themselves.”

Mr Hambleton and his sister, who both regard a 2019 inquest into the bombings, which failed to examine which individuals were responsible, as a “whitewash”, hope a public inquiry could force the disclosure of documents currently subject to 75-year secrecy rules.

Ms Hambleton questioned why public inquiries had, quite rightly in her view, been set up to examine the Manchester Arena bombing, the Grenfell tragedy and the Salisbury poisonings, but calls for one into the Birmingham attacks had repeatedly fallen on deaf ears.

Asked what her message to the Government is, Ms Hambleton said: “Please give us a statutory one public inquiry as a matter of urgency.”

Six Irishmen, Hugh Callaghan, Paddy Hill, Gerry Hunter, John Walker, Richard McIlkenny and Billy Power, were wrongly convicted over the attacks and jailed for life in 1975, but were freed in 1991 after the Court of Appeal ruled their convictions were unsafe.

Inquest hearings which concluded in April 2019 found that a botched IRA warning call led to the deaths of the 21 people unlawfully killed.

An 11-member jury, which sat for almost six weeks, unanimously concluded an inadequate warning call by the Provisional IRA cost police searching the area vital minutes.

They also found there was “not sufficient evidence” of any failings, errors or omissions by West Midlands Police’s response to the bomb warning call.