UK government welcomes Supreme Court ruling on Troubles legacy legislation
The UK government has welcomed a Supreme Court ruling in relation to Troubles legacy, saying its new bill “is fully equipped to deliver human rights-compliant” investigations.
The 2023 Legacy Act, introduced by the previous Conservative government, offered conditional immunity for perpetrators of some Troubles crimes in exchange for co-operation with a new body that would oversee investigations, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
Labour has since introduced a new bill to overhaul the act, with MPs already voting to repeal the conditional immunity provision and scrap a bar on future legacy compensation cases while the bill is being debated.
Northern Ireland’s High Court and the Court of Appeal both previously found that parts of the act undermined the rights of victims, in breach of the Windsor Framework – but that has now been overturned, judges ruling four people who brought the case were “unable to establish that the 2023 Act led to a diminution of rights”.
A Westminster spokesperson said the ruling “has confirmed that the ICRIR is fully equipped to deliver human rights-compliant investigations, and reaffirms the government’s position on the interpretation and application of Article 2 of the Windsor Framework”.
“Today’s judgment also shows that the government was right to address the main flaw in the Legacy Act, namely conditional immunity,” they said.
“The scheme, which never came into force, was wrong in principle, lacked public confidence, and has been repeatedly rejected by the courts.
“While the question of immunity was not before the Supreme Court, the court went out of its way to refute the main argument put forward for it.
“It is clear that the Troubles Bill is now the only viable way to generate confidence across communities, enable information sharing by the Irish authorities and put in place the necessary safeguards for our former service personnel.”
Taoiseach Mr Martin told reporters in Belfast his thoughts are with the victims who took the case, because “behind every legacy case there is a family, there is suffering, and there are those who have been impacted in the most grievous of ways”.
Mr Martin said he had not had an opportunity to examine the “lengthy judgment” but said: “We will examine this very carefully.”