Doug Beattie: ‘We welcome the recognition of need for major changes to the Stormont House legacy plan’

Yesterday’s announcement by the secretary of state Brandon Lewis on how the government plans to move forward on legacy will provide some encouragement to those of us who have been highlighting the flawed nature of the previous proposals.

In particular we welcome the acknowledgement that with regard to the 2018 draft bill, ‘significant changes will be needed to obtain a broad consensus for the implementation of any legislation.’

We also welcome the commitment that ‘those who defended the rule of law deserve certainty that there will be an end to repeated questions about what happened during their service.’

For too many people — most notably republicans, some self-appointed guardians of human rights and certain law firms keen to exploit ‘lawfare’ — the entire legacy process presented an opportunity to rewrite history and paint the state and its actors as the villains of the piece at the UK government’s own expense.

The government has quite rightly committed to ensuring that investigations which are necessary ‘are effective and thorough but quick’ but crucially, the secretary of state has also stated that ‘Only cases in which there is a realistic prospect of a prosecution as a result of new compelling evidence would proceed to a full police investigation and if necessary, prosecution.’

It is entirely right that where evidence is available the police should investigate and we remain opposed to any form of amnesty, but any notion of a parallel police force as was suggested in the form of the HIU, just won’t carry.

Questions still arise as to who will decide if evidence is ‘new and compelling’ but we are encouraged that the government has recognised the flaws in the SHA proposals, not least with regard to the HIU.

It is crucial that we ultimately arrive at a process that is designed to deliver for victims, and not one that is seen as a licence to print money by some law firms working to an anti-state agenda.

We look forward to engaging with the government to ensure that whatever legacy arrangements are ultimately put in place will deliver the fair, balanced, and proportionate system that the people of Northern Ireland, and those who defended them, deserve.

Doug Beattie MC MLA, Ulster Unionist justice spokesperson