LEIGH MP Andy Burnham told the House of Commons yesterday, Wednesday, that those responsible for the deaths of 96 football supporters at Hillsborough must now be 'held to account' via criminal courts as soon as possible.

A special coroner's court in Birchwood Park, Warrington, ruled that the Liverpool FC fans had been unlawfully killed in the 1989 disaster.

Mr Burnham, who campaigned for the new inquest following the Hillsborough Independent Panel's damning report on the disaster and the police cover up was made public in 2012, said: “At long last, justice for the 96 – for their families, for all Liverpool supporters, for an entire city.

"But it took too long in coming and now those responsible must be held to account for 96 unlawful deaths and a 27-year cover-up.

"Thankfully the jury saw through the lies and I am sure this house will today join me in thanking them for devoting two years of their lives to this most important public duty.

"When it came, their verdict was simple, clear, powerful and emphatic.

"Can the Home Secretary now assure me there will be no holding back in pursuing prosecutions?

"The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said that files will be submitted by December. While we understand the complexity, can she urge them to do whatever they can to bring that date forward?

"One of the lessons of Hillsborough is that there must be no arbitrary time limits on justice and accountability.

The Leigh MP asked the house why justice had taken so long and heavily criticised South Yorkshire Police and Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

He said: "Why, at this inquest, did South Yorkshire Police go back on their 2012 public apology?

"Millions of pounds of public money were spent re-telling discredited lies against Liverpool supporters.

"If the police had chosen to maintain its apology, this inquest would have been much shorter.

"This force used the same underhand tactics against its own people in the aftermath of the miners’ strike that it would later use, to more deadly effect, against the people of Liverpool.

"This force hasn’t learned and hasn’t changed.

"I don’t blame the ordinary police officers, I blame their leadership and culture, which seems rotten to the core."

Mr Burnham was particularly scathing of the 'false version of events' portrayed by police and the media in the aftermath of the disaster which saw the blame passed on to the fans.

He said: "Imagine how it felt to be my constituent Lee Walls, who had come through Gate C just before 3pm with his friend Carl Brown.

"Carl died but Lee survived, and days later he had to read that he was to blame.

"The survivors of this tragedy had no ability to correct the lies. If a tragedy like Hillsborough was to happen now, victims would not be able to quickly undo the damage of a misleading front page.

"This inquest produced a different outcome because the families had the best lawyers in the land.

"If they could have afforded them back in 1990 (when the original Hillsborough inquest was held), history might have been very different."

Mr Burnham added that 'the longest case in English legal history' must mark a watershed in how victims are treated in the future.

He said: "What kind of country leaves people, who did no more than wave off their loved ones to a football match, still sitting in a court room 27 years later begging for the reputations of their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and fathers?

"This was not just Liverpool’s but the country’s tragedy.

"I think today of those who did not live to see this day.

"Of my constituent Stephen Whittle, the ‘97th victim’, who gave his own ticket to a friend on the morning of the match and later look his own life.

"I think of Leigh lad Carl Brown and his devoted mum Delia, who still visits his grave most days.

"It has been the privilege of my life to work with the victims' families.

"They have prevailed against all the odds and kept their dignity in the face of terrible adversity.

"They could not have shown a more profound love for those they lost on that day.

"They truly represent the best of what our country is all about.

"Now it must reflect on how it came to let them down for so long."