Editorial: The Labour government's ongoing betrayal of the security forces who served in Northern Ireland

​Once again Hilary Benn has in effect cited unionists in Labour’s capitulation to nationalist Ireland.​

The secretary of state was responding to a question from the shadow Northern Ireland spokesman, Alex Burghart, who in the House of Commons asked Mr Benn about the fact that Soldier F had been put on trial for murder based on evidence far short of that required.

Mr Benn replied that the last Tory government’s now shelved Legacy Act with its offer of conditional amnesty “could have given immunity to terrorists, and that is why the immunity that the last government sought to put in place was rejected by victims and survivors groups in Northern Ireland, was opposed by all of the political parties in Northern Ireland and was found by the courts to be incompatible with our human rights obligations”.

All of that is strictly true but highly misleading. It is true that the Belfast courts have been allowed to play an outsize role on legacy, but it is up to Mr Benn’s government to stop that: the ruling to which he refers was not even appealed to the Appeal Court, let alone Supreme Court. It is also misleading because, once again, Mr Benn is implying that everyone including unionists has a shared position on legacy –although unionists allowed this misconception to arise by failing to show their contempt for the nationalist anti-UK position on legacy.

It is further misleading because he implies that Labour’s legacy position is driven by concern at terrorists getting immunity, when in fact they have singularly failed to address the fact that Ireland (and to a lesser extent the UK) have given the IRA amnesties.

Meanwhile, we report today on how Mr Benn’s protections for veterans are meaningless. They are either protections offered to all, including terrorists, or they are minor protections – things like veterans not getting ‘cold calls’.

What an ongoing betrayal of our security forces.