Armed forces minister Al Carns quits over Troubles legacy law - saying government is creating a 'hierarchy of truth' in Northern Ireland

Al Carns cited the legacy plans alongside defence spending as his reason for quitting the Starmer government – just hours after the Defence Secretary John Healey tendered his resignation over defence funding.

The government says while there are “already strong safeguards in the Bill”, it will “shortly bring forward a substantial package of amendments to further bolster these protections”.

However, in his resignation letter, Mr Carns said the plan risks “failing the very veterans it claims to protect” and that he cannot ask veterans “to trust a process he no longer trusts” himself.

The Troubles Bill is a replacement for the Tories’ Legacy Act – which granted conditional immunity for veterans and terrorists alike. It would have halted all prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes as well as an end to inquests.

It was broadly backed by veterans, who are vehemently opposed to Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to re-open state probes.

The framework for Labour’s plans was agreed with the Irish government before it was brought to parliament, with Dublin promising to act in “the fullest possible co-operation” with UK authorities, and bring in its own Troubles bill to ensure that happens.

The Irish proposals have been criticised as lacking substance, however, and Dublin’s input into the process has been questioned.

Speaking to GB News on Friday morning, Al Carns said: “We're creating a hierarchy of truth in Northern Ireland. One is around legacy inquests and inquiries, and the other one is around Independent Commission.

“My view is the Independent Commission should be the only body to seek truth, reconciliation, and justice.

“Some of those inquests need to continue, but I would like to see the majority of them, if not all of them, pushed into the independent inquiry, mirroring the same way that South Africa did its reconciliation – so we do not drag our veterans back to court, and importantly, so we don’t rewrite history.

“90 percent of all the casualties in Northern Ireland were caused by who? By terrorists”, he said.

Mr Carns said armed forces should be held to “the highest level of legal scrutiny” – but he was “not too keen” on 70 and 80 year old veterans “being dragged to court”.

It has long been rumoured that the government’s failure to progress the bill was at least in part down to his opposition to it. Last July, he was reportedly on the cusp of resigning over his opposition, and now says that the government’s failure to include changes believed necessary is part of his reason for resigning.

In his resignation letter he said: “Men and women I served with, those I buried friends alongside, people who did their duty under conditions most individuals in Westminster will never have to imagine.

“I set out the changes I believed were necessary, and the lines which I could not in good conscience go beyond. Those lines have not been accepted. I have run out of room to argue this case honourably from inside government.

“A serving minister cannot ask fellow veterans to trust a process he no longer trusts himself. These two failures are the same failure. We ask soldiers to fight for this country.

“In return, we owe them the kit to do the job and the loyalty to stand by them when it's done. We are failing on both.

“I set out the changes I believed were necessary, and the lines which I could not in good conscience go beyond. Those lines have not been accepted”, the Labour MP said.

A Government spokesperson said: “We owe an immense debt to the veterans who served with distinction in Northern Ireland. The Troubles Bill is a vital step in righting the wrongs of the flawed Legacy Act, which was rejected by our own courts and left veterans exposed to a legal wild west.

“Over the last few months, ministers have listened closely to the concerns of Armed Forces associations. While there are already strong safeguards in the Bill - including protection from repeated investigations - the government will shortly bring forward a substantial package of amendments to further bolster these protections.

“Suggestions that veterans will be dragged through the courts are simply wrong. Our Armed Forces have always been bound by the rule of law, and those who served honourably and followed the rules have absolutely nothing to fear.”