Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will resume after King’s Speech
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailThe Government’s planned reforms on laws around immunity and prosecutions on crimes during the Troubles will be debated in the next parliamentary session after support from MPs.The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill was backed in a carry-over motion in the Commons which means it will not become void when it prorogues this week ahead of the state opening of Parliament in May.The Bill has not been fully debated or passed by Parliament, and was set to otherwise fall. Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has said amendments will be put to it when it returns.The debate on Monday evening was hotly contested, as the Conservatives accused Labour of subjecting British Army veterans to being dragged through the courts over their actions in Northern Ireland.Meanwhile, the Government was accused of being in hock to Dublin and Sinn Fein over amendments Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said would be introduced when the Commons resumes.The DUP leader Gavin Robinson urged the Government to scrap the Bill and reintroduce another “that can command the confidence of victims and veterans”.Mr Benn said the law was necessary to fix previous Conservative legislation which was ruled in breach of human rights laws.The carry-over motion was backed by 279 MPs to 176, majority 103.Speaking in the Commons, Mr Benn said the legislation would include protections such as no repeated investigations, no cold-calling, a requirement to consider the age and welfare of veterans, and that any veteran can give evidence remotely and anonymously.Mr Benn said: “This motion will enable the House to progress the Troubles Bill, which is essential in order to remedy the failure of the previous government’s Legacy Act.”He added: “If dealing with legacy was easy, then this aim of the Good Friday Agreement would have been resolved a long time ago. It isn’t. It’s very difficult, not least because there are many different and opposing views.“But we have a responsibility to do this, for those affected by the Troubles, including the many people who lost loved ones and are still searching for answers.”He continued: “One important part of the Bill is the consideration it gives to those who served the state so bravely, in the form of protections for veterans and police officers to ensure that they are treated fairly and with dignity and respect.”Mr Benn said it also had support from Joe McVey, the victims and survivors commissioner for Northern Ireland.The legislation would repeal and replace the controversial Legacy Act introduced by the previous Conservative government, ending the immunity scheme brought in under the law that was ruled unlawful in the courts.Labour’s Bill, agreed as part of a joint framework with the Irish government, will put in place a reformed Legacy Commission with enhanced powers.MPs have already backed a remedial order which removed the measures in the previous Act providing conditional immunity from prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes in exchange for co-operation with a truth recovery body, as well as scrapping a bar on future legacy compensation cases.Conservative shadow Northern Ireland secretary Alex Burghart said legal protections for service personnel had “changed beneath their feet”.He said: “This Bill will reopen the door to vexatious litigation, it will drag old soldiers through the courts and subject split-second decisions taken under high stress decades ago to the post hoc algorithm of a legal framework that did not exist at the time.”He continued: “The Bill promises victims the earth.“It raises their hopes but I am afraid, in practice it will offer nothing in the way of conclusion or finality because, although there will be court cases, and there will be inquests, and there will be trials and reviews and challenges, as the Secretary of State himself has said, the prospect of conviction now is vanishingly small.“The number of answers that victims will get will be minimal, and all the while veterans will be hauled before the courts, investigated for years, subjected to all the pain and ignominy that will bring. The process has become the punishment.”MPs from Northern Ireland were split on the Bill, as DUP MP Jim Shannon (Strangford) and Traditional Unionist Voice MP Jim Allister (North Antrim) both spoke against it, and accused the Dublin government of having too much influence on Labour.Mr Allister said the lack of promised amendments from the Government was because Mr Benn had “embarrassingly shown himself to be wholly beholden to the Dublin government”.DUP leader Gavin Robinson said: “The Irish government have more secrets in their drawers locked away than the lectures they choose to give this House.”He added: “I see little support for the process that people of Northern Ireland and veterans right across the United Kingdom have had to endure over the last two years.”Meanwhile, Mr Shannon asked for the Republic of Ireland government to be held to account for “protecting IRA murderers across the border”.He said: “The Irish government have more say than the victims of Northern Ireland, my family and others”.Mr Shannon also asked for protections for the Royal Ulster Constabulary members.Mr Benn replied: “The protections that are contained within the Bill currently will apply to RUC and others who served the state.”Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Colum Eastwood (Foyle) said it should be supported, and quoted a letter from Sandra Peake from the Wave Trauma Centre in Belfast. He said: “Unimpeachable character, someone who stood on behalf of victims, of all kind of victims.“She is imploring us tonight to put this Bill through so we can properly scrutinise it.”
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