Far from giving more power to the police ombudsman, the UK must re-balance the grossly one-sided nature of legacy

The ombudsman, Marie Anderson, mentioned her plan in an interview with the Irish News, and is submitting a paper to Naomi Long, the justice minister.

She has since clarified to this newspaper that “this is not purely a legacy issue, it is also about current policing”. Accountability should not end with retirement, she said.

The DUP Policing Board member Joanne Bunting MLA and the Ulster Unionist Justice spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA were both sharply critical of the plan.

Mrs Anderson said that they had made “interesting points and I would welcome the opportunity of discussing these matters with them in more detail.”.

While this spirit of openness to dialogue is welcome, it is troubling that her office is submitting such a plan. As Ms Bunting says, the fact that it will not get through the assembly “should be something the ombudsman should be both aware of and have taken into consideration” before speaking out.

Mrs Anderson must know the anger there is that only ex RUC face investigation for misconduct. The deeply flawed Stormont House proposals had no mechanism to examine, for example, those who maimed people and destroyed property in bombings.

Ms Bunting says that the record of the ombudsman’s office shows it is not the vehicle for historic investigations. But Stormont House proposed an even worse police misconduct process in a Historical Investigations Unit.

Far from it being appropriate to give the ombudsman office more public money at this time, London must urgently rebalance the scandal of vast anti state legacy expenditure. Negotiations have failed. Dublin is humiliating the UK on legacy matters in Europe. The process is grossly lopsided against security forces.

We need a Downing Street plan to right things, starting with funding for civil actions against terrorists and specific inquiries into IRA terror.

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