Editorial: With a Belfast court negating London on legacy amidst Dublin's legal case, it is high time the UK took retaliatory action against Ireland

The impact of the Belfast court ruling on the legacy act yesterday is unclear.

While the 200-page judgement from Mr Justice Colton ruled that the amnesty clause of the plan breaches the European Convention on Human Rights, it also said that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information could press ahead with investigations.

The human rights activist Jeff Dudgeon, who has been such a vital voice on how legacy has turned against the security forces who prevented civil war in favour of lawfare fuelled by terrorist apologists, thinks the act is not that damaged by this finding.

This newspaper warned repeatedly over the last decade about the risks of tipping into an amnesty, which is what happened – a decision not to prosecute the past caused by panic in the face of a deluge of lopsided processes and investigations into the actions of state forces during the Troubles. But that is what happened: an amnesty that would simultaneously protect soldiers and avoid annoying Sinn Fein. The latter in that, while republicans were delighted at the prospect of proceeding with the 2014 Stormont House agreement, indeed demanding of it so sure were they that it would turn against the security forces, they are also pleased with an amnesty for IRA.

But an amnesty, while bad, is preferable to endless unbalanced probes into the UK state during the Troubles.

Yesterday has pleased an Irish government that has been allowed to sue the UK over legacy with minimal consequences. London is annoyed for sure, but when will it take meaningful retaliation? It should put Labour on the spot and see if it will back action to defend the reputation of security forces against an Irish state that harboured terrorists for 30 years.

Meanwhile, that the Windsor Framework has been cited in this ruling is a reminder of how unhelpful it is to claim that there is no internal UK border.