London has still failed to take the initiative on legacy and explain how the tables will be turned on terrorists

Mr Byrne said he is not sure the UK government’s retreat has support.

But whether or not the chief constable thinks the retreat has public support, or whether or not he thinks it is the right thing to do, is neither here nor there.

The handling of legacy has been a mess, and anybody who is concerned for the welfare of police officers or soldiers will be horrified that it has been allowed to turn so forcefully against state forces who prevented civil war during the Troubles.

The Stormont House proposals included a shocking provision that would have meant that only the police were investigated for past “misconduct” while terrorists would only have been probed for killings (and not, for example, for bombings that destroyed livelihoods or maimed people).

The essays that we have run on that proposal by lawyers including Peter Smith QC and Neil Faris, about the possible injustices that would have flowed from it, raise grave questions (that have not yet been answered) as to how it got anywhere near the statute books.

Matters such as that police misconduct proposal should be of utmost concern to the policing high command (and the PSNI did in the legacy consultation make clear its opposition to that provision).

Still, months after London announced its new approach to legacy, it has failed completely to seize the initiative, and has instead let ‘human rights’ and other voices imply that ministers are behaving badly on the topic.

There is not even a hint of the radical new approach which is needed, which is to make clear how the government intends to turn the spotlight on murderers, to balance the fact that terrorists and their apologists have been allowed to use millions of pounds of UK funds to chase the security forces such as via civil actions.

There is also precious little sign of any MPs taking a knowledgeable stand against this scandal.

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