Kate Hoey’s bid to protect Northern Ireland veterans would resolve part of the legacy imbalance

One of the most disturbing aspects to the ongoing legacy scandal is that a Conservative and Unionist government in London is presiding over it.

On page 20 (of the print edition, see web link below), we reprint a speech by Baroness Hoey in which she tried to extend protections for overseas veterans to those who served in Ulster.

It was depressingly predictable that such an extension would not be automatic, in much the same way that the failure to extend the new flag policy to NI was predictable, as was the failure to secure compensation for victims of Libyan-IRA terror from frozen Libyan assets.

In fact the whole legacy process is one of weakness and appeasement, including Tony Blair’s secret On the Run scheme.

It is said that in some influential circles in London there is a feeling that unionists who supported the Stormont House Agreement legacy structures helped create this problem. But the UK should have had its own extensive pool of advisors and lawyers to help establish its own red lines in those talks.

The nationalist view of the past and the Irish and Sinn Fein demands on legacy are the work of many hands on their side.

There is now a grave imbalance in how the past is being examined, including a very costly system of legacy inquests, which are mostly into killings in which the state is implicated.

These are in addition to the Bloody Sunday inquest, multiple UK-funded civil cases against UK forces, a welter of Police Ombudsman probes into the RUC, and various specific police investigations into allegations of past state wrongdoing,

Meanwhile, several low-ranking elderly soldiers face homicide trials and no terror leaders face the same.

Baroness Hoey’s amendment would only resolve one part of this scandal, albeit an important one. But London must make this process uncomfortable for republicans and Dublin, who are driving it.

Ireland has been lobbying against the UK before the Council of Europe on legacy yet British ministers are doing nothing in response, such as ordering a major investigation into Irish extradition refusals, which were such a help to IRA terrorists.

Baroness Hoey: Protection for veterans should apply to those who served in Northern Ireland

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor