Reform leader Nigel Farage declares 'no more Dennis Hutchings' as he promises immunity and pardons
Nigel Farage has said that there must be no more cases of UK soldiers being “hounded” like Dennis Hutchings, as he set out his party’s stall on veterans’ affairs.
The Reform leader told a rally this afternoon that a Reform government would offer immunity to Troubles veterans and pardons for those already convicted.
According to the most recent poll from Ipsos (dating from November), some 33% of those who intend to vote at the next general election would choose Reform, followed by Labour on 18% and the Tories on 16%.
Meanwhile one of his MPs, Sarah Pochin, a former magistrate, declared that “terrorists do not deserve human rights” as she condemned “immunity” that was being granted to them, and contrasted it with the “vexatious” cases being taken against ex-soldiers.
Mr Hutchings was a former soldier who was prosecuted for the attempted murder of Catholic civilian John Pat Cunningham, who was fatally wounded in the back in 1974 after a patrol of soldiers opened fire on him in a Co Tyrone field.
Mr Hutchings was charged in 2017 and died from Covid in 2021, aged 80, while still fighting the charge.
Mr Farage paid tribute to those “who did their job in very, very tense, difficult and dangerous circumstances in Northern Ireland up to half a century ago”.
"I want to say this,” he declared.
"Never again must there be a case like that of Dennis Hutchings.
"Dennis Hutchings: hounded, hounded through the courts, arrested at five o'clock – a man in his mid-70s, arrested at five o'clock in the morning – for carrying out his duty in, as I've said already, those difficult, dangerous and tense environments that we faced in Northern Ireland.
"Dennis Hutchings: hounded until the day he died, whilst every IRA terrorist faces no prospect of prosecution whatsoever.
"I am pleased that we have peace in Northern Ireland.
"But we're beginning to see that some of the surrenders that were made from the Belfast Agreement and onwards by the Blair government have led to this ridiculous situation.
"If we're going to absolve those who potentially were terrorists 50 years ago, the very least we can do is to absolve not just the memory of Dennis Hutchings, but all those now and in the future who may go through this process.
"And to that end, I promise you that a Reform government will end all of these vexatious claims taken against our veterans from conflict after conflict.
“And for those who've been found guilty under very dubious codes of the Human Rights Act, we will grant a royal pardon of mercy on their name.”
The crowd cheered him on this point.
He went on to say that “ranged against us are the metropolitan elites [and the] human rights brigade” – but on his side he had “the silent, decent majority of law-abiding people in this country”.
It was not clear exactly how Mr Farage’s envisaged immunity would work: would it put and end to civil cases as well as criminal ones, for instance?
And would the immunity apply to former paramilitaries as well as soldiers, as the Tories’ Legacy Act had done?
It was also not clear if the pardons he envisages would apply to every conviction of military personnel stemming from the Troubles.
Reform was contacted, but no response had been received at time of writing.
Mrs Pochin meanwhile said that her father had done three tours of Northern Ireland in the military, adding: “I can't imagine what it was like for my mum, for all those years, at home with two children, never knowing whether her husband would be blown up or shot, captured, tortured.”
She said that the Tories’ Legacy Act of 2023 “is not perfect” but that Labour’s Troubles Bill which is due to replace it “will see vexations prosecutions start up once again, prosecutions of our brave veterans who should be enjoying retirement”.
She said: “This government is more interested in deferring to the European Convention of Human Rights than it is to preventing you from being prosecuted.
"Well, what about your human rights?
"They will see immunity given to terrorists, yet re-open inquiries into our brave veterans.
"This is no way to treat those who would give their lives to defend their country.
"Terrorists do not deserve human rights.
“A Reform government would repeal this Troubles Act and ensure that no British veteran ever faced prosecution for simply following orders.”
She went on to add that “we know that this Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will, in time, become an Iraq Bill or an Afghanistan Bill, or whatever else is facing us down the line.”