{"id":451081,"date":"2025-09-25T19:26:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/451081\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T19:26:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:26:18","slug":"starmer-says-new-troubles-legacy-proposals-will-not-protect-paramilitaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/451081\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer says new Troubles legacy proposals \u2018will not protect paramilitaries\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer told BBC News NI<\/a> he was \u201cpleased progress had been made\u201d on the plans, drawn up jointly by the UK and Irish governments.<\/p>\n

The proposals, agreed by London and Dublin, are aimed at replacing the Conservative government\u2019s controversial Legacy Act with a new framework for truth recovery, justice and accountability for Troubles-related cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made a provision for veterans in relation to it, the protections have been put in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked if the protections extended to everyone who came forward, including paramilitaries, he replied: \u201cNo, it\u2019s for veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the \u201cnext thing that needs to happen\u201d is the introduction of legislation to implement the proposals and stressed: \u201cI want this to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir rejected suggestions that prioritising veterans risked giving the impression that their experiences were more important than those of victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not at all,\u201d he said. \u201cI worked in Northern Ireland for five years so I know how important accountability and truth and justice is for all the victims.<\/p>\n

“Other governments have failed on this, the last government badly. I want this to work\u2026 and I have in my mind\u2019s eye the victims who\u2019ve waited a very, very long time for the accountability that they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime minister also defended his government\u2019s appointment of Dutch conflict resolution expert Fleur Ravensbergen to examine whether engaging with paramilitary groups could help encourage disbandment.<\/p>\n

Based at the University of Amsterdam, Ms Ravensbergen is expected to meet representatives of loyalist and republican organisations in the coming months before publishing a report next August.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir said paramilitaries were still having a damaging effect in parts of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is intolerable, and it is our job to do whatever we can to alleviate that for those communities, and that\u2019s the sole purpose of this role,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that doesn\u2019t deflect from my condemnation of paramilitaries, not in the slightest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Labour leader dismissed speculation his premiership was \u201changing by a thread\u201d amid reports that Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is preparing a leadership challenge.<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer (PA)<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Thursday 25th September <\/p>\n

He also declined to comment on whether people in Northern Ireland should be allowed to vote in Irish presidential elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s something that needs to be worked through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir, speaking separately to BBC Midlands, also said the new legacy system would provide a route for long-running cases such as the Birmingham pub bombings.<\/p>\n

He insisted the arrangements, agreed with Dublin and due to be legislated for in Westminster, were \u201cdesigned to get to the bottom of all the legacy issues\u201d and stressed to victims\u2019 families that \u201cthey\u2019re not forgotten and they will never be forgotten\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer told BBC News NI he was \u201cpleased progress had been made\u201d on the plans, drawn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[807,1249,528,1144,6568,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-451081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-keir-starmer","9":"tag-kurtis-reid","10":"tag-labour-party","11":"tag-northern-ireland","12":"tag-the-troubles","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115266583612041888","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}