DUP questions whether Lord Hermer recused himself from the government's Troubles legacy process

Gavin Robinson said that “innocent victims deserve to know whether the government is focused on their needs at the heart of this process, and this is part of that question”.

The DUP leader made the comments after Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn told the Commons this week that the solicitor general, as opposed to Attorney General Lord Hermer himself, will make decisions on which inquests will proceed under the new legacy arrangements.

Concerns had been raised about Lord Hermer’s involvement in the legacy process because of his past representation of Gerry Adams as a client.

Instead, Mr Benn told the Commons that Solicitor General Ellie Reeves, a Labour MP, will make the decisions on which inquests will proceed.

The previous Tory government had shut down inquests into Troubles deaths amid concerns that they were unduly focusing on alleged wrongdoing by the state.

Labour plans to repeal the legacy act which brought that change about, with the result that inquests will resume.

Under the government’s plans for dealing with the Troubles, the solicitor general, who still works for the attorney general’s office, will make decisions on which legacy inquests will be allowed to proceed as inquests, and which will instead be passed to a revamped Legacy Commission for investigation.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Robinson criticised a lack of detail in the plans, adding: “But the detail we do have is that the secretary of state wishes for the solicitor general to be the person to carry out the sifting process...

“I am clear in my mind that Richard Hermer would be wholly inappropriate to have his hands anywhere near cases touching on the legacy of the past, given how he has conflicted himself.

“Will the secretary of state indicate: has the attorney general of this country recused himself from this process? Has he, as secretary of state, decided to exclude the attorney general from this process?

“Is he legislating in a way that will exclude every attorney general from this process, or is it just Richard Hermer?”

Mr Benn did not directly address this in his reply, saying instead: “I have every confidence in the solicitor general, and I am sure she will do an excellent job in sifting these cases against three criteria, which will be laid out in statute.”

Mr Robinson has now told the News Letter: “I first raised concerns about the attorney general having a role in this process around five months ago due to the clear conflict that exists.

“It is obviously welcome that he will not be involved, and it will be handled instead by the solicitor general.

“However, the public deserve to know how this situation came about. Did Lord Hermer step back from the process or was was excluded by the secretary of state?

“Unfortunately, there was no response to that simple question when I posed it in Parliament, but there is still a need for it to be answered.”