Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Bill will end ‘merry-go-round’ of legacy court cases says Defence Secretary Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace said the current system is “not serving the peace process well”.

The Government’s draft Legacy Bill would provide immunity for people accused of Troubles offences as long as they co-operate with a new truth recovery body, and would also halt future civil cases and inquests linked to killings during the conflict.

The proposed law changes are opposed by all Stormont’s main parties and the Irish government, as well as victims’ groups in the region, which have denounced it as an “amnesty” for killers.

This week, the Government moved to change proposals for the truth recovery body to be able to conduct criminal investigations “where it judges that to be appropriate”.

Mr Wallace also urged Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who pledged to ditch the Bill if he becomes Prime Minister, to be “very cautious before making these type of commitments”.

Speaking in Belfast on Wednesday, Mr Wallace insisted the legislation was the fairest way to deal with the past.

Mr Wallace, who previously served in Northern Ireland as a soldier in 1991, said he understands the depth of feeling around the past.

“I understand the sense of loss many victims have held,” he said.

“But it is also important that we stop what has become a merry-go-round of legacy inquests, and constant reopenings and retrials that don’t actually seem to serve the peace process well.

“It doesn’t help either the victims that I have seen or indeed many of the people accused, I think it’s really important we do our best to draw a line under it.

“The Good Friday Agreement was as much about forgiveness and coming together as anything else, and this legacy legislation is about saying, we want to move out of the constant reopening of inquests through the same processes – when I was a junior minister here, I think they thought it would take 30 years to get through that weight of inquests – and to put it into better system where people can come forward and if they engage with this legacy programme then of course they will achieve a level of immunity.

“That’s quite important, if they choose to engage, if they don’t choose to co operate, then of course they are open to be prosecuted. That’s a very important part of the process of healing and coming together.”

It was put to the Defence Secretary that the legislation will cut off the chance of justice for many victims.

He responded: “There hasn’t been justice for the thousands of victims of terrorists – who by the way committed most of the murders, the deaths and the bombings in the Troubles.

“It was the vast majority of people that suffered at the hands of terrorists, both loyalists and republicans, and there hasn’t been justice.

“What there has been is a significant re-running of numerous inquests. When I was junior minister here, the number of inquests that were redone, re-investigated, without any outcome.

“When I meet victims, one of the things they want more than anything is answers: what happened to my loved one, why did it happen, and who was involved in that?

“We hope that this new proposal will bring forward that environment that will allow people to come forward … I haven’t seen many terrorists come forward and be open about the crimes they committed.

“In exchange for coming forward there will be that level of protection from prosecution, or immunity, and if that’s what we have to do to move on from the Troubles, to draw a line in the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, which was about forgiveness and moving on.

“I remember struggling as a veteran here to come to terms with the fact that many of the IRA prisoners were being let out, the decommissioning, many people in these communities here, whether republican or unionist, saw bad people being effectively let out of prison. That felt very uncomfortable.”

Mr Wallace urged those against the Bill to “give it a try” and see if it works.

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, scheduled to proceed in the House of Lords next week.

But Ulster Human Rights Watch criticised Mr Wallace’s comments.

UHRW Advocacy Manager, Axel Schmidt, said: “Talk of needing to end what Mr Wallace described as the ‘merry-go-round’ of legacy inquests is insensitive and unjustifiable to victims of terrorism.

“Giving what’s proposed a chance to work won’t cut it with the hundreds if not thousands of people who suffered decades of vile terrorist attacks.

“We all acknowledge that in very many cases, the evidence simply isn’t there to justify arrests and successful prosecutions. But that doesn’t mean that in all cases the door to justice should be shut or the process closed down.

“In a small number of cases, sufficient evidence can be unearthed in files and archives to bring justice to victims and loved ones. The clock should never be allowed to run down on bringing closure for victims of terrorism.

“This should not be allowed to happen in England nor should it be tolerated in Northern Ireland which bore the brunt of more than twenty-five years of brutal, unceasing terrorism.”

Yesterday the government tabled amendments to the legislation;-

– Confirmation that the ICRIR established by the legislation will be able to conduct criminal investigations where it judges that to be appropriate;

– Ensuring that individuals who knowingly or recklessly provide false information to the ICRIR can be prosecuted and have their immunity revoked;

– Disapplying the NI (Sentences) Act 1998 for individuals who don’t tell the commission what they know and are then convicted of an offence, so they face a full, not reduced, sentence.

– Increasing the fine for non-compliance with the commission.

– Strengthening the commission’s independence by consulting before appointing the chief commissioner.