Yet another assault on the UK for its record in resisting past Irish terrorism

It never stops on legacy. It just never stops.

The international criticism of the UK over its handling of the Troubles doesn’t stop.

And outside of this newspaper you hear or see precious little scrutiny of the criticism.

On the contrary you will in much of the media see this criticism regurgitated almost as if its assessment of Britain is fair.

Just after American congressional figures lambasted London for its amnesty plan, we learn that the letter from the Council of Europe’s Commissioner on Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, has been doing the same.

Ms Mijatovic has instructed the UK government should focus on “delivering justice across all communities without further delay”.

You might think that the IRA would nervous of all this criticism of an amnesty plan, because — after all — it ought to mean that the biggest killers by far (ie the IRA) might face trials.

But not a bit of it. Republicans are the forefront of denouncing the amnesty, and encouraging their friends in the US and elswhere to do the same.

Why? Because they know that they face a minimal chance of prosecution for their bloodshed but that many veterans and ex policemen will face homicide trials.

And this international criticism is all at the behest of a hostile Irish establishment which some foolish Tories talk of as their friends and which the UK never criticises.

And the 2014 Stormont House legacy structures had no mechanism for putting a spotlight on how the Republic allowed itself to be a safe haven for IRA mass murderers.

While the amnesty plan is wrong, it is a lot better than having state forces disproportionately in the dock over terrorists. But London’s greatest failing has been its failure to state again and again Ireland’s role in the Troubles, and how many people died as a result of its soft approach to IRA terror — in particular its extradition failures, even after the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement.

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