Veteran voices hopes that a Prime Minister Andy Burnham would kill off Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

A similar sentiment was voiced by former soldier Doug Beattie and by UUP Robin Swann after Mr Burnham stormed home in England’s Makerfield by-election to become the latest addition to the Labour benches in the Commons – paving the way for him to take on Mr Starmer for leadership of both the party and the country.

The Troubles Bill, which is championed by NI Secretary Hilary Benn, is currently struggling to make its way through Parliament, and had faced opposition both from military veterans who feel it risks re-opening a wave of legal actions against them and from within Labour’s own ranks.

Paul Young, now aged 75 and living in Co Down (though originally from Kent), is spokesman for the group the Northern Ireland Veterans Movement.

He is a former lance corporal who served for seven years with the Blues and Royals, and is a former detective sergeant who served for 22 years with the RUC.

He told the News Letter: “For us the best thing we can hope for is he unseats Starmer, and all those Starmer put in place including Hilary Benn will leave their posts.

"If you were a new leader and were wanting to get Labour back into favour again, you’d want to get rid of all the things that are causing the Labour Party trouble, one of which is the NI Troubles Bill.

"If he takes Benn out of the equation and puts another person in that isn’t wedded to the Troubles Bill, the Troubles Bill might then fail.

"The backbenchers in the Labour Party are really upset about the Troubles Bill – they don’t like it. It’s really Benn’s.

"So we’d hope Starmer does go and takes people like Lord Hermer [his top legal advisor] and Benn with him and a new broom comes in.”

His objections to the bill include the fact that it involved a deal with the Irish government, given what he sees as its own failings on the IRA, and also that the bill would restart the “lawfare” of Troubles inquests and civil claims which the Tories’ old Legacy Act had sought to shut down.

Mr Young also said the bill will reform ICRIR into the Legacy Commission in such a way that the reports on Troubles events that it produces, which at the moment are final, will be open to judicial review, dragging out the process further.

Ideally, he said, he would like to see Al Carns – the recently-resigned armed forces minister, and critic of the Troubles Bill – take over the helm from Starmer, or failing that, being made Northern Ireland Secretary.

Another veteran voicing his views on the bill was erstwhile UUP MLA Doug Beattie, now an independent.

"The moment the government misled the veterans’ community about the protections within the Legacy Commission, the legislation was fundamentally undermined,” he told the News Letter.

"The much-vaunted ‘six protections’ for veterans were, in reality, nothing of the sort; indeed, they would have been available to terrorists on an equal footing.

"What the government effectively did was create a false equivalence between terrorists and the forces of law and order – something that did not go unnoticed by the veterans’ lobby.

"Despite repeated warnings, including formal correspondence to the armed forces minister outlining the bill’s flaws, no corrective action was taken.”

If Andy Burnham took over, “it is difficult to see how he would allow the bill in its current form to proceed, given the level of opposition from his own backbenchers”.

UUP MP Robin Swann told the News Letter: “On the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, it’s not clear yet where Burnham sits on the detail or what his views are, but who he picks as his Defence Secretary will be arguably more important in regards to the bill than who ends up in the Northern Ireland Office, as it has become clear that the MoD now holds significant influence over this bill.

“If Al Carns gets the job, the bill will be dead.”

TUV chairman Allister Kyle said he hopes a change of Prime Minister will herald a change of policy in a different area: the Protocol.

"Regardless of who the occupant of Number 10 is, the message from TUV will be the same - you cannot call yourself Prime Minister of a truly United Kingdom while the sea border remains in place,” he said.

“Mr Burnham would not accept a situation where the people of Manchester had a border between them and other parts of the UK which frustrated business.

"Nor would he as an MP accept a situation where he had no say over 60% of the laws governing the economy in Manchester.

"If that's unacceptable for people in his part of the UK, it's equally unacceptable for people in Northern Ireland.

"Restoring the equal citizenship of all the people of the UK should be a priority if he becomes Prime Minister."