LEGAL AID FOR FAMILIES OF VICTIMS AT BIRMINGHAM PUB BOMBINGS INQUESTS

That this House welcomes the decision of the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull to resume the inquests into the murder of 21 people in the Birmingham pub bombings of November 1974; notes that, for the resumed inquests to be compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the families of the victims must be able to participate effectively; further notes the recent decision of the Home Secretary not to establish a special fund similar to that created for the families represented at the Hillsborough stadium disaster inquest; welcomes the Home Secretary's statements that it is nevertheless right that the families bereaved by the Birmingham pub bombings are represented at the forthcoming inquests and that legal aid exceptional funding will enable this; and calls on the Legal Aid Agency to exercise its discretion to waive both means-testing and the requirement to make financial contributions and approve the families' application for exceptional funding without further delay.