The families of the victims of the Birmingham Pub Bombings have today published an open letter to Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Birmingham Yardley MP, Jess Phillips, calling on her to renew the push for a public inquiry.
It was November 21, 1974, when twin blasts destroyed the Tavern in the Town and Mulberry Bush pubs.
A total of 21 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, making it one of the worst terrorist atrocities in British history.
Six Irishmen, who became known as the Birmingham Six, were wrongly convicted over the attacks and jailed for life in 1975. They were freed in 1991 and nobody else has ever successfully been brought to justice.
An inquest jury in 2019 concluded a flawed warning call by the IRA “caused or contributed” to the deaths and cost the police vital minutes.
The letter to Ms Phillips comes almost two years since she and other local MPs wrote to the then Home Secretary, James Cleverly, whilst in opposition, calling for a Section 1 statutory public inquiry into the bombings,
In that letter published April 2024, they said: “Still the families of these Birmingham citizens have been left with no justice for the loss of their loved ones, and no answers into the systematic failings and concerns surrounding how this tragedy was handled for decades after the event.
“It is our (MPs) belief that this request for a Section 1 statutory public inquiry is needed to, not only provide much needed truth, justice and accountability for the families of the 21, but also to ensure learning for our state bodies that the same could not happen again.”
Twin blasts destroyed the Tavern in the Town and Mulberry Bush pubs in Birmingham
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The campaign group, Justice4The21, are looking to reaffirm support from Ms Phillips, who is now in government.
Their letter today, shown to GB News, states: “Since being chosen to be in the Labour government in July 2024, there has been no communication regarding your ‘unstinting’ support for a Section 1 statutory public inquiry.
“Your silence on our demand for a public inquiry is deafening.
“The Birmingham Pub Bombings 1974 are not some pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to achieve reconciliation in post-Conflict Northern Ireland.”
More than 20 people were killed in one of the worst terrorist atrocities in British history
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Ms Phillips joined the former Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, in reading out the names of those killed in the bombings at the commemorations marking the 50th anniversary.
Labour’s West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, has previously said he would support the families’ “quest for truth and justice”.
And Birmingham City Council leader, John Cotton, has said the pub bombings “cast a long shadow” over the city and “the families deserve answers”.
Ms Phillips has been approached for comment.