logo
Mother of Manchester Arena victim welcomes royal assent for Martyn's Law

Mother of Manchester Arena victim welcomes royal assent for Martyn's Law

Independent03-04-2025
The mother of a man who was killed in the Manchester Arena attack, who campaigned for tougher anti-terror legislation, said knowing people's lives will be saved is a 'big thing' after it became law.
Martyn's Law, officially the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, requires UK venues hosting 200 or more people to prepare for a terror attack, after receiving royal assent on Thursday.
Larger venues expecting 800 or more must also take steps such as using CCTV, bag checks or vehicle inspections.
Figen Murray, who campaigned for the law change in memory of her 29-year-old son Martyn Hett, met Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street and said she is 'absolutely over the moon'.
Ms Murray told the BBC's North West Tonight: 'Somebody earlier was saying, 'is it eight years? It feels like yesterday'.
'And to me, it always feels like yesterday. I remember everything so vividly, of course, and it will stay with me forever.
'But having the campaign come to this kind of end is really massive.'
She later said: 'We lost our child and I can't bring Martyn back, but to know that people's lives will be saved is a big thing.'
Mr Hett and 21 other people were killed in the bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
Ms Murray completed a 200-mile walk from Manchester Arena to Downing Street and delivered a letter to then-prime minister Rishi Sunak in May last year as part of her campaign.
The Bill was laid before Parliament in September.
Sir Keir told the BBC: 'I would like to think I had the wherewithal to do what Figen has done.
'I'm not sure in my heart of hearts I would be able to pick myself up as she has done after the most awful of circumstances, to then campaign and to bring that change on behalf of other people, to make sure they never go through what she has been through and what her family has been through.
'I find that incredible.'
The Prime Minister labelled Martyn's Law a 'landmark moment' in improving safety at public events across the UK.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'Martyn's Law will significantly strengthen public safety across our country. I'd like to thank Figen Murray for her tireless work to make this law a reality.
'This Government is securing Britain's future through the plan for change and, as the eighth anniversary of the attack approaches, this new law delivers upon the lessons from the Manchester Arena Inquiry to keep people safe.'
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) will take on the role of regulator for the legislation, the Home Office said.
The Act will not come into force for at least two years to allow the SIA's new function to be established and give those responsible sufficient time to understand their new obligations and plan ahead.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Hamas leader's wife ‘smuggled from Gaza tunnels to Turkey'
Hamas leader's wife ‘smuggled from Gaza tunnels to Turkey'

Telegraph

time2 hours ago

  • Telegraph

Hamas leader's wife ‘smuggled from Gaza tunnels to Turkey'

The wife of the architect of the October 7 massacre was smuggled out of Gaza and remarried in Turkey, it has been reported. Samar Muhammad Abu Zamar, the wife of Yahya Sinwar, slipped out of the enclave using a fake passport and carrying significant amounts of cash, sources in Gaza told Ynet, an Israeli news website. She married again a few months after Sinwar, Hamas's military commander, was killed by Israeli troops in October 2024, the news outlet reported. Sources said her wedding and resettlement in Turkey were organised by Fathi Hammad, a Hamas political bureau member who has been linked to attempts to hide terror operatives and their families. In 2024, footage was released showing Abu Zamar walking through a Hamas tunnel, clutching what appeared to be a designer handbag, hours before the October 7 attacks. Although officially unconfirmed, the story has been widely reported in Israel. Hamas, which styles itself as the primary force of Palestinian resistance to Israel, has repeatedly been accused of drawing strength from the suffering of ordinary Gazans who cannot leave the territory. Ynet reported an Israeli security official as saying that both Abu Zamar and Najwa Sinwar, the wife of Mohammed Sinwar, who took command of Hamas after his brother was killed, left Gaza via Rafah. 'She's no longer here – she crossed through the Rafah border using a fake passport,' a source said of Abu Zamar, saying the escape required 'high-level coordination, logistical support, and large sums of money that regular Gazans don't have'. The women are believed to have escaped via a smuggling network that Hamas has long had in place to evacuate its leaders' families. The report comes amid increasing resentment from Palestinians towards Hamas after 19 months of war. Pictures and videos showing senior members of the group living comfortable lifestyles elsewhere in the Middle East have also fuelled criticism. One Gazan civilian said: 'They send their children to study in Turkey and Qatar—and send ours to the grave. 'What makes them different from any corrupt ruler in the Arab world? 'They only look after themselves.' Hamas is now believed to be under the command of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the only senior commander from October 7 still alive. Hostage negotiations are believed to have been hampered by difficulty in communicating with what is left of Hamas's military structure in the Strip.

Ian Hislop slams ‘mind-boggling' arrest of pensioner for holding up Private Eye cover at pro-Palestine protest
Ian Hislop slams ‘mind-boggling' arrest of pensioner for holding up Private Eye cover at pro-Palestine protest

The Independent

time6 hours ago

  • The Independent

Ian Hislop slams ‘mind-boggling' arrest of pensioner for holding up Private Eye cover at pro-Palestine protest

The arrest on terrorism charges of a 67-year-old man for holding up the front cover of Private Eye at a pro-Palestine protest is 'mind-boggling', Ian Hislop, the magazine's editor, has said. Pensioner Jon Farley, a former head teacher at a primary school, was arrested at a silent protest in Leeds on Saturday after police accused him of supporting Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation. The government voted earlier this month to designate the protest outfit a terrorist organisation after some of its members allegedly sprayed red paint at British fighter jets at RAF Brize Norton. The proscription afforded Palestine Action the same legal status as Isis, Al-Qaeda and far-right outfit National Action. The Private Eye cover held up by Mr Farley at the protest contained the words: 'Palestine Action Explained. Unacceptable Palestine Action: Spraying military planes with paint. Acceptable Palestine Action: Shooting Palestinians queueing for food.' At the bottom of Mr Farley's poster, the words 'Private Eye, no 1653' were written. West Yorkshire police arrested the pensioner under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He had never been detained before. '[Police officers] picked me up, grabbed me, and took me to the side, and I ended up sitting on the pavement,' the 67-year-old told The Guardian. 'I think that's when they said something about the placard. And I said: 'Well it's a cartoon from Private Eye. I can show you. I've got the magazine in my bag,' by which time, they were putting me in handcuffs.' A fellow protester later pointed out to the police that the latest edition of Private Eye was on sale at a nearby newsagents. Mr Farley spent six hours in detention being questioned by counter-terror police. He was allowed to leave under bail conditions that he refrain from attending 'Palestine Action' rallies. Mr Farley says he has never attended a Palestine Action rally, and it would be illegal to hold such a meeting. He pointed out that 32 Palestinians were shot while queueing for aid on the day he was arrested. He described the incident as evidence of a 'whole atmosphere of intimidation', adding that he believed the police were 'making up the law'. Mr Hislop, defending the front cover, said it was 'quite blatantly an example of freedom of speech'. Asked about the arrest of Mr Farley, he said: 'I did think it was mind-boggling. I mean, ludicrous. He obviously couldn't believe it and the immediate response in the office was that someone said: 'Well, the jokes have been criminal for ages.'' Mr Hislop described the cover as 'a very neat and funny little encapsulation about what is and isn't acceptable, and it's a joke about – I mean, it's quite a black joke – but about the hypocrisies of government approach to any sort of action in Gaza. 'So it's not difficult to understand. It's critical, but it is quite clearly a joke. Seems to me absolutely extraordinary that someone could be arrested for holding it up.'

Lammy handing Hamas a get-out card is an utter disgrace
Lammy handing Hamas a get-out card is an utter disgrace

Telegraph

time6 hours ago

  • Telegraph

Lammy handing Hamas a get-out card is an utter disgrace

To listen to David Lammy being interviewed by the BBC, it is as though the Islamist death cult known as Hamas bears absolutely no responsibility for the ongoing tragedy in Gaza. In the parallel universe occupied by our Foreign Secretary, it is seemingly not Hamas that started the war in Gaza by carrying out the worst massacre in Israel's history or bears responsibility for failing to agree a lasting ceasefire. It is not the terrorists who are to be blamed for disrupting the aid supply lines that are essential to preventing a humanitarian disaster. Instead, Lammy believes that the enduring catastrophe that has engulfed Gaza since the October 7 attacks in 2023 is the fault of the Israeli government and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Commenting after the UK had joined 27 other countries, including Canada, France and Australia, in issuing a statement condemning Israel for depriving Palestinians in Gaza of their 'human dignity', Lammy's hyperbole knew no bounds as he declared he was 'sickened, appalled' by Israel's conduct and its 'grotesque' targeting of starving Palestinians. Lamenting the fact that the UK had neither the power nor influence to end the conflict, he warned he was prepared to impose further sanctions against Israel if hostilities did not end soon. Throughout this seemingly endless anti-Israel diatribe on the BBC, at no point did Lammy make any reference to Hamas, and the pernicious role the group has played in wilfully disrupting aid supplies to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. There was no condemnation of the campaign of tyranny Hamas continues to exercise over Gaza's civilian population, nor any mention of freezing the assets of the wealthy Hamas terrorist masterminds holed up in Qatar. This is despite mounting evidence that the Iranian-backed terrorist group is deliberately exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the enclave for its own propaganda purposes. Hamas has been accused of targeting Palestinian civilians trying to obtain food and medical supplies provided by the US-sponsored Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This is an aid organisation set up as an alternative to the UN-sponsored UNWRA, whose humanitarian efforts have been compromised by their links to Hamas. Videos are circulating online showing Hamas terrorists rounding up recipients of US aid, with some of them being tortured and killed. Meanwhile Israeli officials have released evidence that suggests that, far from blocking supplies, Israel has allowed 950 trucks to cross into Gaza to deliver aid, and the reason it has not been distributed is because too many of the UN-sponsored aid agencies are too busy criticising the Israelis to bother collecting it. In an active war zone like Gaza it is difficult to verify these conflicting narratives. But, at the very least, it is incumbent on the UK and other Western governments to try to bring some semblance of balance and proportion to highly inflammatory allegations, such as the claim that Israel is deliberately causing mass starvation among Palestinian civilians. This is clearly beyond Lammy's diplomatic skill set, with the Foreign Secretary apparently more interested in virtue signalling to Labour's hard-Left anti-Israel lobby than making any coherent effort to address the broader, and more complex, challenges raised by the Gaza crisis. By doing so, he is essentially propagating the same twisted anti-Israel agenda promoted by supporters of Palestine Action, the direct action group that Lammy and his ministerial colleagues have just proscribed as a terrorist organisation. No wonder the Israelis have responded to the latest international condemnation of their actions by Lammy and Co as being 'disconnected from reality'. If Britain and its co-signatories are genuinely committed to an 'unconditional and permanent ceasefire' in Gaza, as the statement insists, then they should concentrate their efforts on forcing Hamas and its backers in Iran to acknowledge the inevitable, and accept that the terrorist organisation's continued presence in Gaza must end. One of the biggest obstacles to the Trump administration's attempts to broker a lasting ceasefire in Gaza has been Hamas's determination to maintain operations in Gaza, irrespective of the scale of the defeat they suffer at the hands of the Israelis. If Hamas emerges from the conflict with just a fraction of its pre-war terrorist infrastructure intact, it will hail the achievement as a major victory. Israel, like any other country that has suffered atrocities on the scale committed on October 7, insists there will be no peace in Gaza so long as Hamas remains an active presence in the enclave. Allowing Hamas to retain any vestige of influence in the territory would simply place the Israeli people at risk of suffering yet another cataclysmic terrorist attack, which is why Netanyahu is so insistent that there can be no peace in Gaza so long as Hamas remains. The key to implementing a lasting ceasefire in Gaza is not indulging in more, utterly pointless, anti-Israel Lammyesque stunts. It is forcing Hamas and its backers that its reign of terror in the enclave is well and truly over.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store