Army regiment condemns Starmer's move to scrap veterans' Troubles protections
The Ministry of Defence is investigating after the army's largest infantry regiment appeared to condemn the Government over plans to scrap Troubles protections for veterans.
An unauthorised tweet from the official account of The Rifles urged members to sign a petition for a debate in parliament to 'correct' plans to repeal parts of the Legacy Act.
Critics say ministers' plans to change the law will allow veterans to be re-investigated after being previously cleared of wrongdoing
A petition was launched last week by Ian Robert Liles, a retired brigadier, calling on the government not to make any changes to legislation that would allow veterans to be prosecuted.
Mr Liles said the petition is aimed at 'stopping the Government from allowing persecution of our Northern Ireland veterans' who served under Operation Banner, the codename for British Armed Forces operations in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007.
It was shared by the Rifles Regiment's X account on Tuesday.
The petition has so far gathered 38,000 signatures meaning the Government will have to respond and if it reaches 100,000 signatures will be considered for debate in Parliament.
It has been signed by many former soldiers as well as David Johnstone, the Northern Ireland veterans commissioner.
The post, featuring the regiment's logo, said: 'The government is looking to repeal elements of the NI Troubles Act. This will mean that veterans can be re-investigated despite having previously been cleared of any wrong doings.
'So that a Parliamentary debate can be held to correct this we encourage you to click on the link and sign your name'.
The tweet was later deleted.
Conditional immunity
The Legacy Act halted dozens of civil cases and inquests linked to the conflict and also offered conditional immunity for perpetrators of crimes during the Troubles in exchange for their co-operation with a new investigatory body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
The Act followed a number of British Army veteran prosecutions in recent years in connection with fatal incidents during the 30-year conflict between republican and loyalist paramilitaries.
It was pushed into law by the Conservatives despite opposition from all the major Northern Irish parties, including the DUP and Sinn Fein, and the Republic of Ireland.
Critics were opposed to the concept of offering perpetrators of crimes conditional immunity and a Northern Irish High Court ruled the legislation was incompatible with human rights laws.
Labour has now started the process of repealing the Act after promising to do so before the general election in July.
The Government is retaining certain elements of the Act, including the ICRIR, but will axe the contentious immunity provision and see the restoration of legacy inquests and civil cases.
Last month a thousand veterans descended on Parliament on Good Friday to protest against the changes.
The bike-riding veterans, many dressed with medals and berets from their service in Northern Ireland, closed much of Westminster in an organised go-slow demonstration.
The Rifles is the British Army's largest infantry regiment and is at the forefront of overseas operations and describes itself as one of the finest fighting units.
It is made up of more than 4,300 riflemen and seven battalions across 26 locations.
An MoD spokesman said: 'We are investigating a tweet which was published in error and without correct authorisation.'
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