{"id":711638,"date":"2026-01-21T21:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/711638\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T21:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:38:16","slug":"mps-vote-to-remove-conditional-immunity-for-troubles-crimes-from-legacy-act-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/711638\/","title":{"rendered":"MPs vote to remove conditional immunity for Troubles\u2019 crimes from Legacy Act \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

British Army veterans could face prosecution for their conduct during the Troubles in Northern Ireland after MPs voted in favour of removing protections.<\/p>\n

As it currently stands, the Legacy Act offers immunity from prosecution to anyone accused of crimes during the Troubles in Northern Ireland if they provide information to a truth recovery body.<\/p>\n

However, the High Court in Belfast ruled parts of the Act were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights in 2024.<\/p>\n

While the Legacy Act was approved in 2023, it was not enacted.<\/p>\n

\"Ormeau<\/a>\"Hundreds<\/a>\"NorthernNorthern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn. PICTURE: PA <\/p>\n

The then-Conservative government began the process of appealing against the High Court decision, but this was dropped by Labour ministers after the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n

More than 3,500 people died during 30 years of bloodshed and bombings known as the Troubles, which began in January 1969 when the UK government sent troops to Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the Commons, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said the 2023 Legacy Act \u201cfundamentally failed\u201d because it was incompatible with the UK\u2019s human rights obligations.<\/p>\n

Following his comments, MPs voted on a Government remedial order to update the legislation.<\/p>\n

That vote passed by 373 to 106, majority 267, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

As a result, the bar on new civil claims over cases from the Troubles will also be removed.<\/p>\n

The remedial order will now go to the House of Lords where it must be approved by peers before the law is changed.<\/p>\n

Mr Benn told MPs: \u201cOne of the main reasons for the failure of the Legacy Act was its attempt to grant immunity, including to terrorists who murdered in cold blood soldiers and civilians in Northern Ireland and in towns and cities across England.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it probably, in fairness, seemed reassuring to veterans, it was almost certainly reassuring to terrorists who had committed those acts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was a false promise, and it protected no one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA protester outside the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, where judgment is due in September 2024. PICTURE: PA <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe Government is clear that these repeals need to happen as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy? Because we need to provide clarity on immunity to build trust amongst victims, survivors and indeed veterans in the independent commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause while immunity remains on the statute book, it will be harder for them to obtain the confidence of some victims and survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Burghart, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, argued the remedial order was a \u201ccontinuation of the Troubles by other means\u201d and it was time to draw a line under it.<\/p>\n

Mr Burghart said he agreed with Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne), who described it as a \u201cproxy war\u201d to \u201crelitigate the question \u2018who won?\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland MP and DUP leader Gavin Robinson said: \u201cI believe he is bringing this remedial order in wrongly. I think he is attaching to these issues a level of undue haste.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Robinson also raised concerns over the legacy commission\u2019s budget with the \u201craft of work\u201d it will face as a result of the remedial order.<\/p>\n

Claire Hanna, the Social Democratic & Labour Party MP for Belfast South and Mid Down, said no one had won in the Troubles.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cAll of them have lost members of the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not about people being able to draw a line under the past because MPs in London have told them to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Hanna argued the previous legislation was \u201cnot about reconciliation or truth\u201d but \u201censuring that Republican and loyalist paramilitaries again would have had their crimes retrospectively legalised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP for New Forest East, said: \u201cThe truth of the matter is that you have to give immunity to everyone or to no one.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if the price of giving immunity to our servicemen is that we give it to terrorists too, then it is a price worth paying.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Sorcha Eastwood, Alliance MP for Lagan Valley, said it was not a price her constituents and \u201cthe vast majority of people in Northern Ireland\u201d are willing to pay.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI\u2019m proud to be Northern Irish. I\u2019m proud to be British. I\u2019m also proud to be Irish, but most of all, I am proud to say that we should be able to stand by the rule of law wherever we are deployed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be maintaining our rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Army veterans could face prosecution for their conduct during the Troubles in Northern Ireland after MPs voted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[26654,32986,6853,20870,1144,285,104751,16,7913,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-711638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-commons","9":"tag-european-convention-on-human-rights","10":"tag-hilary-benn","11":"tag-legacy-act","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-troubles","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-ulster","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115935255717914117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711638","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=711638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}