Birmingham Pub Bombings

Paulette Hamilton Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Liam Byrne]

Yes, and that is why I am grateful to have been given time to make this call on the Floor of the House tonight.

[Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham Erdington) (Lab)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for securing this really important debate. Does he agree that for my constituents Julie and Paul—the relatives of two victims—who have waited for over 50 years to get justice, enough is enough? The families are still grieving. We must secure an independent public inquiry that includes the effective participation of the relatives as a matter of urgency, so that the families can get closure.

[Liam Byrne]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. She speaks with such passion and eloquence about this issue. She knows as well as I do how deeply the families feel their pain.

Since the exoneration of the Birmingham Six—the men who were tortured, framed and imprisoned—no one has been held to account for that failure. Since 1991, no new suspects have been brought to trial. Since 2019, even though witnesses have admitted that they knew who was responsible, no one has been compelled to testify, despite the fact that men like Michael Christopher Hayes, a former member of the Provisional IRA, confessed in a 2017 BBC interview that he accepted “collective responsibility” for what he called a terrible tragedy, and despite Witness O and Chris Mullin indicating in their evidence to the inquest that they had knowledge of those responsible for the murders. While the coroner accepted assurances from the Government Legal Department that relevant documents had been disclosed, widespread doubts remain about whether information held in the Home Office, Foreign Office or Ministry of Defence was, in fact, made available.