Keir Starmer has to choose on legacy between the Irish government and veterans, says the Tory Northern Ireland spokesman
The Labour government has to choose on legacy between the wishes of the Irish government and the wellbeing of veterans, the Tories have said.
The Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman Alex Burghart issued that challenge to Sir Keir Starmer after retired generals criticised the “grotesquely unfair” legal pursuit of servicemen and women who served in the province during the Troubles.
They insist that the government’s coming legacy legislation could expose former soldiers to years of prosecutions.
Mr Burghart MP has blamed Labour’s deal on legacy with the Republic of Ireland as a reason why he thinks the UK government will not placate military concerns. He told the News Letter: “The prime minister will have to decide whether his arrangement with Ireland is more important to him than his duty to veterans.
“There are very many unanswered questions about the conduct of the Republic during the Troubles but there is little hope that the new arrangement with Dublin will answer any of them.”
Mr Burghart spoke to us as former Army leaders appeared to go farther than they have done before in strongly criticising Labour’s legacy plans, and how they will affect veterans of the violent decades in Northern Ireland.
The retired generals slammed the “grotesquely unfair” pursuit of servicemen and women who served in the province during the Troubles.
The Daily Telegraph reported that General Sir Peter Wall, who was head of the Army between 2010-2014, and General Sir Nick Parker, the last commander to oversee operations in Northern Ireland, have proposed legal amendments to demand that no new investigations can begin without “compelling new evidence” being provided and assessed by the Supreme Court.
Using blunt language, Sir Peter was quoted as saying: “The government has no moral backbone. The stance at the top of government is incompatible with the deployment of military force. The zeal with which they are pursuing the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill completely underlines the point.
“At every level, it’s grotesquely unfair. It betrays the service of these individuals to the Crown.”
The Labour government has appeared to be trying to push ahead with the legislation despite reported opposition from the Ministry of Defence, with a further attempt to make progress on the bill expected after the Easter parliamentary recess.
Mr Burghart said that London appears to be more interested in its legacy agreement with Dublin, reached last year, on how to tackle the past. The Irish government is reported to be opposed to reforms in the coming UK legacy legislation.
Mr Burghart told the News Letter: “The government is too weak to admit that it has got this wrong from start to finish – it needs to face up to the fact that this legislation should never have been brought forward. Do the right thing and ditch it."
The Republic of Ireland has been suing the UK over legacy since 2024 over the now shelved plan of the Conservative government for a conditional amnesty for Troubles killings.
Last month, Sir Keir sidestepped a question from this newspaper as to whether he will ever challenge Ireland over this legal case.
We put it to the prime minister that we were not aware of the premier having even criticised that case, let alone taken any retaliatory action. We also pointed out that Dublin was taking the Strasbourg case over a conditional amnesty by the former Tory government that had now been shelved, and that a former Irish justice minister, Michael McDowell, had said that Ireland had operated a de facto amnesty for the IRA, and that meanwhile British soldiers had been put in the dock over Troubles-related killings. We asked if the Labour government saw the UK-Ireland summit as an opportunity for London finally to push back against the legal case?
Sir Keir did not answer the question directly, but said: “Well, I'm in the business of building structural relations, and solving problems and that is the approach that I take to all the issues between the UK and Ireland.”
Then he gestured to the Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn, who made the point that the last government’s conditional amnesty had no support among the parties, adding that the News Letter editor Ben Lowry, who asked the question, “well” knows that.
The Northern Ireland Office told the Daily Telegraph: “Our approach ensures new and robust protections, in law, for our brave Operation Banner veterans, including protection against repeat investigations and being required to travel to Northern Ireland to give information.”