Petition · past parliament

Give the Birmingham pub bombing families legal aid to help them get to the truth

Rejected 19 signatures

What the petition asks

The families of those who died or were injured in the Birmingham pub bombings have been refused legal aid.

The Police aren't even looking for those who carried out the bombings.

Like the Hillsborough families the Birmingham pub bombing families deserve legal aid to help them get to the truth

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

We’re not sure what action you’d like the Government to take. The Legal Aid Agency is independent of the Government and the Government can’t intervene in its decisions.

There was recently a debate in the House of Commons on this subject. During that debate, the Government Minister (Sir Oliver Heald) explained that two applications for legal aid relating to this case have been received by the Legal Aid Agency, and that one of these has been granted and “a way has been suggested of finding the other application to be within the rules.”

You can read the full debate here:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-10-26/debates/5180E18B-EDC6-45A3-8303-F948ECCAEEDF/BirminghamPubBombingsLegalAid

The Minister also explained that these applications don’t cover all of the families who have been bereaved, and so there may be further applications. You could start a new petition asking for the Government to provide funding for legal assistance if any application for legal aid is refused.

Timeline

28 Nov 2016 Petition opened for signatures
13 Jan 2017 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 19
Status Rejected
Rejected 13 Jan 2017

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.