There is still no sign of the radical reform that is needed on legacy

It comes after London last month retreated from the structures for dealing with the past that were agreed at Stormont House in 2014.

As time has progressed, it has become increasingly clear how disastrous those proposals were — and only the Ulster Unionist Party of the major parties said so.

The government in 2014 foolishly dropped its opposition to legacy inquests as a separate process. Now these inquests, which mostly relate to killings in which the state is implicated, have been approved at immense cost to taxpayers, of scores of millions of pounds. Meanwhile, multiple legal actions against state forces continue to weave their way through the courts, in addition to which there are hundreds of complaints against the RUC before the Ombudsman.

The more we began to learn about the Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) investigative body, the one unit whose work should have reflected the fact that most Troubles deaths were republican murders, the more plain it became that it, too, would probably turn against the state, for reasons including greater state records. And this was aside from the singling out of RUC for misconduct probes, the assumption that the PSNI could not be trusted to investigate the past and the fact that investigators would adjudicate, not just investigate.

Stormont House had no procedure for investigating the Irish state’s record of facilitating IRA terrorists, both in failure to extradite them and in taking no robust action against them. Many people were murdered as a result of this.

Dublin has since tried to humiliate the UK before the Council of Europe on legacy. Yet this has still not led to a complete change of approach in London. The March 18 statement signalled a scaling down of legacy, entirely appropriate amid a health crisis, but the UK seems to be pursuing a de facto amnesty and removal of aspects like ‘RUC misconduct’ instead of the radical reform needed to halt demonisation of UK forces.

—— ——

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