Unionists welcome landmark legal ruling - but round on 'activist' equality bodies over Windsor Framework stance
The government has won an appeal over the legality of Troubles legacy laws in the Supreme Court, in a ruling which could have wide ranging implications for the Windsor Framework.
The UK’s top judges ruled that parts of the Legacy Act that ended Troubles-related police investigations and inquests did not lead to victims’ rights being diminished.
It had been argued that EU rights applicable under the post-Brexit protocol deal meant that the controversial legislation could not apply in Northern Ireland – a position backed by the courts in Belfast.
But that argument was dismissed by the country’s top court in a landmark judgment handed down in London on Thursday afternoon.
Other Westminster legislation – such as on UK immigration law – has also been struck out in Northern Ireland in rulings by local courts, based on their interpretation of the remit of EU law in the province.
Unionist leaders have welcomed the ruling and its implications for the Windsor Framework – but say only the full removal of the deal can restore UK full sovereignty in Northern Ireland.
DUP boss Gavin Robinson said “any positive step is welcome but ultimately it is necessary to deal with the root cause of the problem” – namely the application of EU law here.
TUV leader Jim Allister KC MP welcomed the ruling “insofar as it restrains the effect of” the Protocol – but said the deal must go in all its parts.
Both leaders have slammed the role of the Equality Commission and NI Human Rights commission, who they accuse of being activists for expanding the reach of Brussels law in the province. Mr Allister has called on the leaders of both organisations to consider their positions.
Taking the appeal against the original decisions by the courts in Belfast that the Legacy Act was not compatible with the Protocol, the government had said the decisions taken by local courts had “raised wider constitutional questions” for the United Kingdom.
Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard welcomed the ruling but said the “government should have fought harder to earn it”.
“The Supreme Court has been clear: the Belfast courts had no business disapplying Acts of the Westminster Parliament using the Windsor Framework, and the ICRIR was never the institutional failure the Court of Appeal claimed it to be. Those are important findings and we welcome them.
“But let us be equally clear about what Labour surrendered before this case even reached the Supreme Court. When Lord Hermer became Attorney General in 2024, he advised abandoning the human rights grounds of the appeal before the Court of Appeal had even ruled.
“As a result, some provisions of the 2023 Act remain formally incompatible with the European Convention not because the Supreme Court found them wanting, but because the government never gave it the chance to say otherwise. A man who spent his career taking cases against the British state was handed the task of defending veterans' protections and walked away from the argument”, Lord Elliott said.
The former UUP leader said the thousands of veterans of Operation Banner “deserved better” and criticised the “silence” from the Labour government on the Republic’s legal action against the UK on legacy.
The UK government welcomed the “clarity provided… by the Supreme Court, which 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”.
It also said the judgment shows that it “was right to address the main flaw in the Legacy Act - namely conditional immunity”.
“The scheme, which never came into force, was wrong in principle, lacked public confidence, and has been repeatedly rejected by the courts” a spokesperson said – adding that its 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.”
Gavin Robinson said: “For those who believed that bodies such as the Equality Commission or Human Rights Commission set the law in Northern Ireland this should be a wake-up call. Their activism has been exposed and they should now make clear that their attempts to undermine the previous Supreme Court ruling will be withdrawn. As a result of their own actions, any credibility they had or confidence which remained in them has now been lost.”
Jim Allister says the ruling “restrains” the impact of EU law in the province shows that the heads of Northern Ireland’s equality watchdogs had gone out on a limb on the issue.
The TUV leader said the Equality Commission (ECNI) and NI Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) chiefs “should be considering their positions” over the judgment.
An Equality Commission spokesperson said: “We welcome the Supreme Court judgment in ‘Dillon and others’. It has accepted that Article 2 of the Windsor Framework is capable of direct effect in domestic law, in a wide set of circumstances.
“As part of our application to the court, to clarify how the judgment in ‘For Women Scotland’ should be applied in Northern Ireland, we stressed that this matter should be held until the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in ‘Dillon and others’. This is a detailed judgment, and the Commission will take time to consider its implications in relation to our remit.”
An NIHRC spokesperson said: “The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission notes today’s UK Supreme Court judgment. The Commission will now consider the judgment in full and its implications.