Lifting amnesty for Troubles veterans ‘will lead to witch hunt’

As published by the Telegraph

Lifting the legal immunity for Troubles veterans will lead to a “witch hunt” of servicemen involved in future conflicts, Sir David Davis has warned.

The 2023 Legacy Act put an end to fresh historical inquests into deaths that occurred in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, as well as civil actions.

It created the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, which would review deaths and serious injuries that occurred during the conflict.

However, Labour pledged in its manifesto to scrap the legislation, which it said was unpopular with Irish political parties and victims’ groups as well as being incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Sir David, a senior Tory MP, said that allowing inquests to restart would cause concern among soldiers as it would set a precedent for servicemen facing legal action.

Speaking at a debate in Westminster on Monday, the former minister said: “Getting this right is not just a matter of historical justice, the legal witch hunt won’t end in Northern Ireland.

“It will cast a shadow over every future conflict that our Armed Forces engage in and undermine their abilities to defend us.”

He added: “Our soldiers have been held to the highest standards of law and yet our Government is rewarding this by effectively threatening them in their retirement. That is not a proper reflection of their human rights”.

Mark Francois, the shadow Armed Forces minister, said that to repeal the Act to allow fresh inquests would be “not just morally but operationally mad”.

He told MPs: “It would be an act of sheer folly and indeed aid to our enemies to continue with this act of military self-harm so that to put it bluntly even fewer people will join the Army and even more will leave.”

ll three Armed Forces branches are struggling to maintain their numbers, with more than 14,500 service members leaving in 2024 while only 12,850 new recruits joined.

Mr Francois added: “This government-sanctioned form of lawfare is self-evidently a case of two-tier justice at its worst and that is why on these benches we are utterly against it.”

One of the most controversial elements of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement saw paramilitary prisoners released from jail as part of securing an end to the conflict.

Sarah Pochin, the Reform UK MP for Runcorn and Helsby, said: “These courageous men should be enjoying their hard-earned retirement, not facing prosecution for defending the British people from IRA terrorists.”

Ms Pochin, whose father served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, added: “The same British people who value these soldiers are outraged at the unfair and unjust action of this British Government.”

Meanwhile unionist MPs warned that reversing the law could lead to prosecutions being used to relitigate the conflict.

Gavin Robinson, the former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said: “Our responsibility as parliamentarians from across the United Kingdom is to say: ‘No, we will not assist your quest to rewrite the history of the past, nor will we assist in the IRA’s pursuit to try and attain some sort of honour toward their retirement.’

“They tried to destroy this country through war and they failed. Let’s not create the conditions for them to try and destroy the reputation of this country through peace.”

Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary, insisted that the Legacy Act must be repealed but said that all MPs were in agreement that “there can be no rewriting of history”.

He told MPs: “We can’t have any more false promises or undeliverable pledges, pledges that our courts have found to be unlawful.

“And that is why we will fix the mess we inherited from the previous government, whatever its intentions were, and we will protect our veterans as we do so.”

Mr Benn admitted that “legacy is hard” to get right, adding: “This is the unfinished business of the Good Friday Agreement and that is why, as well as listening carefully to veterans which we are doing, we also need to listen to the many families who lost loved ones, including the families of British personnel who served so bravely.”