THE Government’s response to Bishop James Jones’ report on the Hillsborough disaster does not go far enough, Labour said.

Speaking in the Commons, shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said the response should be centred around the experience of the bereaved families, adding: “There is nothing in what we have seen from the Government to date to suggest they will go as far as we believe is needed on requiring public authorities to act with candour and transparency.”

She added that the bereaved families have said “without an effective duty of candour in place, the risk is that reform will simply add another layer of bureaucracy to what victims already have to endure”.

Ms Mahmood said: “The Government’s requirement for a code of ethics is not enough.”

Each of Wirral's four MPs were in the chamber to hear the Justice Secretary outline the Government’s response to three “crucial” recommendations of Bishop James Jones’s Hillsborough report.

Alex Chalk said Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden “has signed what today will be known as the Hillsborough charter on behalf of the Government”.

He said policing authorities, and fire chiefs were among other signatories, adding: “We want this charter to become part of the culture of what it means to be a public servant in Britain.”

Mr Chalk also announced plans to give families of victims in tragedies greater involvement in the inquest process, telling the Commons: “I can announce today that we will consult on an expansion of legal aid for families bereaved through public disaster where an independent public advocate is engaged… or in the aftermath of a terrorist incident.”

But Mr Chalk said a wider duty of candour for all public authorities was not needed, as a “comprehensive framework of duties and obligations” had developed since the disaster.

Questioning Mr Chalk on the Government's refusal to enshrine a 'Hillsborough Law' guaranteeing this, Wirral South MP Alison McGovern, said: "I want to put on record my deep disappointment that we have waited this long for today.

"I think in getting the change that has been described what is being proposed is also not good enough because as the Minister said in his statement, in the legal process in order to achieve what we want which is for public bodies to place the public interest - the citizens of our country - above the reputation of their own organisations.

"It's not just who is represented, it is how lawyers engage in the inquest process and with the bereaved families and it's about establishing, not just in inquests and not just in enquiries, but day in and day out, this culture of candour.

"I'm not a lawyer and he is but I think that lawyers respond to the law and that is at the heart of why we're so disappointed today not to have a 'Hillsborough Law'. I don't want a debate in January, I want a law."