In a contentious move, Members of Parliament (MPs) have voted to remove a measure providing conditional immunity from prosecution for Troubles-era crimes from the previous Conservative government’s legacy act. The controversial clause, which had already been found to be unlawful, was opposed by Northern Ireland parties and victims’ groups.
The clause would have enabled anyone to avoid prosecution for offences related to the Troubles, if they had provided information about unresolved cases. However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn stated that whatever the previous legislation’s intention, it had “fundamentally failed”.
Separately, the Labour government is in the process of repealing the previous legacy act and replacing it with new legislation, which is currently going through Parliament. The new legislation includes a new legacy commission, born out of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), which will have independent oversight.
The decision to scrap the immunity clause has been met with mixed reactions. Some Tory backbench MPs have called on the government to provide immunity from prosecution for those who served in the armed forces, but Sinn Féin’s vice-president and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill has expressed concern over any suggestion that the government could renege on commitments to victims and survivors.
Benn told MPs that the government did not agree with immunity “as a matter of principle” and that those who served in the armed forces had to abide by the rule of law. Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Alex Burghart acknowledged that there was not cross-party support for the Conservative Party’s legislation, nor was there party support for the Labour government’s legislation in Northern Ireland.
Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson criticised the decision, citing budgetary concerns and questioning where additional funding would come from to deal with future Troubles-era civil actions, which will now be able to resume as a result of the remedial order.
The decision to end the immunity clause has been welcomed by some, such as Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Claire Hanna, who said it “goes some way to restoring the rule of law to legacy processes”. However, concerns remain about the broader implications of the new legacy framework being proposed by the British and Irish governments.
