Bereaved families refuse to support Hillsborough Law without MI5 assurances
They are concerned changes to the bill will leave the intelligence agencies unaccountable
Families of the Manchester Arena bombing victims have said they cannot support the proposed Hillsborough Law in its current form, despite a meeting with the Prime Minister.
Campaigners met Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday to discuss concerns about proposals to exempt the intelligence services from the law's duty of candour.
But despite the hour-long meeting, families said they were still disappointed with the result.
Ruth Leney, who chairs the Manchester Arena Support Network, told the Press Association that Sir Keir had "listened", but added: "It's not the outcome that we expected.
"It's got to be all or nothing, they can't water down anything, especially with the security services."
She added: "We can't trust the Bill if not everybody is accountable to it."
Campaigners have warned that a draft version of the Hillsborough Law, formally known as the Public Office (Accountability) Bill - might allow intelligence chiefs to "hide serious failures behind a vague claim of national security".
And they have pointed to the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, which Labour MP Anneliese Midgley told the Commons had seen MI5 spend "six years misleading the public and concealing information".
Responding to Ms Midgley on Wednesday, Sir Keir said he had "always been clear the duty of candour applies to the intelligence services" and insisted proposed amendments to the Bill did not water it down.
He said: "It is right that there are essential safeguards in place to protect national security, and we've got that balance right."
Amendments proposed by the Government on Wednesday brought spies within the scope of the legislation, subject to the approval of the head of their service.
But Elkan Abrahamson, a lawyer for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, said the amendments allowed the heads of the security services to make "whatever decision they want" on whether to disclose information and left them "unchallengeable".
He said it should be up to the head of an inquiry to decide whether information was relevant, adding there were already national security exemptions that allowed evidence to be heard in private.
MPs had been due to debate the Hillsborough Law on Wednesday, but the discussion was pushed back until January 19 to allow the Government to propose changes that might address campaigners' concerns.
Hillsborough Law Now has said "families cannot accept a law that allows the heads of the security services to hide serious failures behind a vague claim of national security".
The group continued: "It's time for the Prime Minister to deliver on the promise he made when he looked the bereaved of Hillsborough in the eye and use this pause to lay down the law to Whitehall and the security services."
The Hillsborough Law takes its name from the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which led to the death of 97 football fans at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.