Editorial: Unionists seem to be backing O’Loan on legacy

​​The former police ombudsman for Northern Ireland has become one of the leading critics of the UK government's Legacy Bill.

Baroness Nuala O'Loan is now one of the most outspoken opponents of the plans in the House of Lords, through which the legislation has been passing.

Yesterday, Baroness O'Loan was scathing about the proposals to deal with the past when she was interviewed on BBC Northern Ireland's Sunday Politics show.

Ms O'Loan criticised the "provisions whereby people who have been involved in the conflict can seek immunity for their crimes".

If the peer is going to be so emphatic in her views on such an important matter, then she needs to be given a robust interview, such as for example being grilled on the utterly one sided nature of legacy to date, which has overwhelmingly been investigations into accusations against the security forces, who killed only 10% of the Troubles dead – most of those killings legal and arising out of a chaotic situation in Northern Ireland for which terrorists are wholly culpable.

She was not asked yesterday about the amnesty for IRA terrorists that Tony Blair tried to introduce as prime minister when he was prime minister, or about the de facto amnesty for IRA leaders that has been in place since 1998.

But no wonder Baroness O'Loan is one of the most often cited voices in the legacy debate. After all, unionist politicians in Westminster have been citing her opposition to legacy. This adds to the impression, as is often given in the media coverage here of legacy, that all the parties agree on legacy. They do not. Most of the main political parties oppose the Legacy Bill but they do, or should, do so from utterly different perspectives.

Baroness O’Loan is of course now free of any office that would constrain her from expressing