Editorial: This rare inquest hearing into a terrorist killing of a soldier must proceed

​​Unionist politicians have made an appeal for an inquest to go ahead into a soldier murdered by the IRA. The joint plea to Rishi Sunak relating to the abduction killing of Corporal James Elliott in 1972 has been made by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Doug Beattie and Jim Allister, who are urging the prime minister to ensure that the case gets heard before controversial legacy legislation is enacted. We hope this happens. Legacy inquests are key to the rewriting of history that has (say polls) led 70% of nationalists to think that the IRA campaign was justified and young people in the Republic to conclude that the British army was most culpable in the Troubles.

More than 100 violent deaths have been slated for such inquests, almost all deaths in which there are allegations against state forces. Ballymurphy – scandalously – became a huge inquiry akin to Bloody Sunday, involving multiple KCs and vast expense. The police ombudsman is swamped with hundreds of claims against the RUC, a force that has an exemplary Troubles record and is only responsible for a few dozen legal killings. Meanwhile, scores of civil actions against state forces have been indulged by the legal system, costing many millions in legal aid.

The government has been entirely right to act unilaterally in the face of this one-sided onslaught. The pity is that they did not act more radically, by announcing probes into republican terrorists, who killed by far the most people. But while Ireland, which harboured terrorists over 30 years, lectures the UK on legacy, ministers are too meek to criticise back, instead closing down the process. Unionists are right to seek balance before that happens but need to beware that making common cause with nationalists against the bill, could create an enlarged legacy process that again turns on police and army.