Veterans minister may quit if Troubles-era troops lose immunity

Times

4 days ago

The veterans minister is expected to resign over government plans to repeal the law that granted Troubles-era servicemen immunity from prosecution.
Alistair Carns, a former Royal Marines commando, is said to have told ministers that he cannot support any proposal that would leave veterans vulnerable to criminal proceedings.
Government sources said that Carns had made his position clear at a drop-in session for Labour MPs hosted by Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, on Monday last week.
Benn had invited colleagues to be briefed on the Northern Ireland Office's plans to replace the Legacy and Reconciliation Act, the 2023 law that ended dozens of civil cases and inquests examining killings during the Troubles.
At its heart is a conditional amnesty for all suspects in historic cases related to violence during the conflict.
Conservative MPs had long pushed for the legislation to protect former soldiers from prosecution but the act's provisions also apply to republican and loyalist paramilitaries, provided they co-operate with a new information recovery body.
Labour's election manifesto pledged to repeal the law and Benn said last year that it was 'completely wrong' that it had barred victims' families from pursuing new inquests or civil action in the courts. He has promised to abolish immunity for suspects, including veterans.
Carns, who was appointed to the government within days of his election to the Commons last July, is understood to have told Benn that he could not endorse new legislation, due to be published within weeks, that reopened the possibility of veterans being prosecuted.
'There is a huge row brewing,' a government source said, adding: 'Everyone has been left with the impression that this is a resignation matter.'
The minister was not present when MPs debated a petition signed by 176,485 people opposed to Benn's proposals in Westminster Hall on Monday evening.
Suggestions that he is hostile to any change in policy on Troubles prosecutions risk embarrassing No 10, which made much of the fact that Carns, who won a Military Cross and is among the most decorated soldiers to have sat in the Commons, joined Labour last year.
Senior figures in Downing Street are increasingly nervous of the backlash to the legislation. While Carns has yet to clarify his position publicly, the government's veterans commissioners for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales signalled their opposition to any legislative change in a joint statement on Monday night.
'We stand united in our firm support of the motion to be debated in Westminster today. We are deeply concerned by the prospect of retrospective legal action being taken against veterans who were carrying out their lawful duties, often under immense pressure and threat.
'We urge the government to resist any changes to legislation that would reopen legal uncertainty for veterans of Operation Banner,' David Johnstone, James Phillips and Susie Hamilton said. 'Any proposed changes must be measured, fair and informed by the voices of veterans themselves — many of whom have already endured decades of scrutiny and hardship.
'This is not a call for immunity from the law, but for fairness under it. Veterans deserve clarity, finality and respect for their service.' They added: 'There can be no moral equivalence between those who served in uniform to uphold peace and the rule of law, and those who sought to destroy it through acts of terrorism.'
During the debate, hundreds of soldiers who served during the Troubles descended on Parliament Square to protest against the plans. They warned that modern soldiers would hesitate to pull the trigger in combat if the government were to remove legal protections for troops who served in Northern Ireland.
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The former servicemen massed on motorbikes and blasted their horns while circling Parliament Square during a 'rolling thunder' demonstration. The riders have been campaigning on the subject since 2019, but said that Labour's reignition of the debate made this their most important event to date.
Veterans from all three services said that the move had 'reopened old wounds' and was fuelling a recruitment crisis. They said that the move could also be dangerous for serving soldiers whose fear of being dragged through the courts later in life may prevent them from fighting.
'No one will want to the pull the trigger,' said Geoff York, 71, a former lance corporal in The Blues and Royals cavalry regiment, who served for six years in Northern Ireland.
'If they're doing this to us, they'll be doing it to those who served in Afghanistan, Iraq … In 30 or 40 years' time, when these young soldiers are our age, they'll be getting the same thing. It is already reflecting on recruitment. Recruitment is on the floor across the three services.'
York said that during the Troubles, British soldiers carried a 'yellow card' detailing the rules of engagement, which instructed troops to give a person three warnings before opening fire. Any soldier involved in a shooting would be investigated by the Royal Military Police and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
'They would say 'you were in your rights to open fire' but many years later it's come to bite us on the rear,' he said.
Special forces soldiers have also criticised Labour's pledge to reopen investigations. In a joint statement shared with The Times, seven commanders of The 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, who served in the elite unit during the Troubles, said: 'We have already processed our grief within our units and with the families of our fallen comrades.
'There's nothing healthy about perpetually reopening these wounds through endless legal proceedings. The harsh reality is that these new hearings are an exercise in futility. The terrorists responsible for killing our colleagues have already been granted 'letters of comfort' — effectively immunity from prosecution.
'So while these investigations might reopen painful chapters for veterans' families, they cannot deliver any meaningful justice. The terrorists walk free while we debate the merits of investigating decades-old cases.
'Our fallen comrades would not want their deaths to be used as political leverage to keep their families and the families of their comrades who are now being hounded, trapped in an endless cycle of hearings and investigations.'
Carns and the Ministry of Defence were contacted for comment.