Manchester Arena bombing victim’s mother feels “misled” by Rishi Sunak – who promised her change hours before calling election

The mother of a Manchester Arena bombing victim has said she felt “misled” by Rishi Sunak over plans for stronger protections against terrorism in public places.

Figen Murray is making the push for the change in UK law following the death of her son Martyn Hett in 2017. He was one of 22 people who tragically lost their lives after an explosion happened at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.

Her campaign is for Martyn’s Law, and would require venues and local authorities across the country to have training requirements and preventative plans against terror attacks. She met with the Prime Minister just hours before he called a general election on Tuesday (May 22) for July 4 after she completed a 200-mile walk to Downing Street to discuss the law.

Following the meeting with the PM, Ms Murray said he had promised her he would introduce Martyn’s Law to Parliament before summer recess but could not guarantee the legislation would be passed before the next election.

Her conversation with Sunak came at the same time Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer wrote to the PM promising his support to ensure the bill becomes law.

He wrote [via Manchester Evening News]: “If time is allocated after the upcoming recess, we will work constructively with the government to ensure this bill is passed swiftly. You will recall the promise you made to Figen Murray in December 2022 to put this legislation into place. I urge you to work with us to deliver on that promise without further delay. The victims and their families deserve nothing less.”

Party whips from the Conservatives and Labour are holding talks to work out what remaining legislation can become law before prorogation – the end of the current parliamentary session – today (May 24) but it looks unlikely that it will now be passed before the election

Speaking to ITV1’s Good Morning Britain, Ms Murray said: “During the meeting we shook hands, he actually agreed, he promised that he will bring it into Parliament before summer recess but he could not guarantee that it’s going to be done by the next general election.

“We shook hands and he looked me straight me in the eyes so I don’t feel I was being lied to because he at that point knew what he was going to do later that day but he must have been in a really difficult position. However, he could have maybe handled it slightly differently. I feel a bit misled rather than lied to.”

She added: “He is behind the legislation definitely and we had a conversation on the phone 18 months ago where he said he is absolutely fully supportive of the legislation, it’s a no-brainer, and he would support it.”

Ms Murray walked for more than two weeks to reach Downing Street and set off from the AO Arena – where the attack took place – on May 7.

Tuesday marked exactly seven years since the tragic incident took place, and two separate minutes of silence took place in Manchester to pay tribute to those who were killed in the attack.

To remember the victims, Nickelback teamed up with The Lottery Winners earlier this month for a live cover of Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ in the city.

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