MP who spent 'three years in uniform trying to bring peace to Northern Ireland' calls for veteran protections
A soldier-turned-MP has called for Northern Ireland veterans to have greater protection from prosecutions.
Veteran Lincoln Jopp was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery after he was wounded during a coup in Sierra Leone in 1997.
The Conservative MP for Spelthorne also served in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
He spoke of his own experience as he urged the government to review the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill.
"There should be no further investigations, inquests, inquiries, or prosecutions of Northern Ireland veterans unless, in the view of a Supreme Court judge, that there is new compelling evidence," he said.
Mr Jopp has tabled the Northern Ireland Troubles (Criminal Investigations etc) Bill, as a private member's Bill, in a bid to write this into law.
Speaking during an opposition day debate on defence spending, he said he fears deeply "the constant hounding of our veterans".
Mr Jopp added: "I spent three-and-a-half years of my life in uniform trying to bring peace to that place (Northern Ireland).
"I wasn't shot and blown up there, I was shot and blown up somewhere else.
"When the children of my schools hear that I've been shot... they will look at me and go: where? And I always say on the roof of the Mammy Yoko Hotel in Freetown ."
Mr Jopp said he hoped the new Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis had taken on the role from John Healy (who quit over underfunding of the military) because he has "got some deal over Northern Ireland".
Labour’s current Northern Ireland Troubles Bill – which had been opposed by junior MoD minister Al Carns, who also recently quit – would repeal and replace the Legacy Act introduced by the previous Conservative government, and has met stiff opposition from veterans.