A move by the government to repeal parts of the Tories' Legacy Act is nothing but an effort to "placate Dublin", a unionist MP has said.

Jim Allister was speaking as MPs convene to debate the issue in the Commons tonight, with the expectation being that a majority will vote the government's planned repeal through.

The government is moving to disapply bits of the 2023 Legacy Act which grant immunity to those who confess truthfully to Troubles crimes and which prohibit civil cases concerning the Troubles.

The government says it is doing this because these segments had been ruled incompatible with existing human rights law.

placeholder image — Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has spoken in favour of today's repeal move, which Jim Allister his criticised

The means by which it is repealing them is called a remedial order – a kind of fast-track instrument for fixing existing laws.

Separately, the Labour government is still in the process of bringing in its own Troubles Bill – something which it introduced last October, and is currently in its committee stage (where MPs pick through it in fine detail and recommend changes).

Mr Allister told the News Letter ahead of tonight's debate: "The remedial order is patently to placate Dublin as a means of encouraging it to terminate its case against the UK.

"Everything that the remedial order repeals can be formally removed in the NI Troubles Bill, but, instead Secretary of State Benn is rushing it when such is not necessary, thereby confirming the suspicion of ulterior motive."

He added that Section 10 of the Human Rights Act "is clear that a remedial order should not be brought where there are live court proceedings which touch on the issue" – and such a case, the Dillon case, is still ongoing.

Mr Allister concluded that "this is an unnecessary move dealing with issues which should be subject to the full consideration that would come if it were part of the current bill".

Dublin currently has a live court case against the UK over the Legacy Act, lodged with the European Court of Human Rights.

It is expected that it will drop this case if it is satisfied with the Labour government’s approach to legacy.

Alliance's MP Sorcha Eastwood hailed the repeal move.

“The Troubles amnesty is an affront to victims and survivors across our entire community, and therefore progress to remove it from the statute book is to be warmly welcomed,” she said.

“No-one is above the law and in taking this action today, the UK government will have made an important step to rebuild confidence in the legacy system."

The NI Secretary Mr Benn said: “Today, I am asking the House to endorse a remedial order to remove indefensible and legally defective provisions contained in the previous government’s Legacy Act.

"This remedial order is essential to rebuild the trust of communities across Northern Ireland who are opposed to the idea that the terrorists who murdered their loved ones could be granted immunity from prosecution if they came forward to the [Legacy] Commission.

"It also restores the historic right of citizens of this country to seek redress through the courts.”

Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch has urged the Prime Minister to abandon its repeal plans today.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, the Tory leader said: “We support our armed forces in every possible way.

"Later today, my party will vote to protect our veterans from unfair prosecution. He is ordering his MPs to vote against them.

“In our national interest, and for the sake of all the brave people in the armed forces, past, present and future, will the Prime Minister do the right thing and vote in support of our veterans, not against them?”

Sir Keir Starmer said: “Under the last government, they passed legislation which was struck down, leaving our veterans utterly exposed. We’re putting in place proper measures to protect them.”