Northern Ireland Troubles Bill to repeal and replace Legacy Act

The UK Government introduces legislation today to repeal and replace the Legacy Act 2023. The new Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will put in place a fair and transparent system that enables families of victims, including those who never came home from service in Northern Ireland, to seek answers.  

The  Bill (‘The Troubles Bill’) will establish a reformed Legacy Commission and pave the way for new information-sharing arrangements with the Irish authorities – a first which delivers on the spirit and promise of the Good Friday Agreement.

We will deliver new protections and safeguards specifically designed and put in place for veterans who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.   

The Troubles Bill will also address the UK Supreme Court ruling in Adams regarding the application of the Carltona principle in the context of interim custody orders, making clear that such orders could be made by junior Ministers as well as by the Secretary of State.

The Bill follows extensive consultation with victims and families, community organisations and civil society, the Northern Ireland political parties and our Armed Forces community.

It also reflects the Joint Framework that was recently announced between the UK and Irish governments, which saw unprecedented commitments made by the Irish Government to bring forward its own legislation and to co-operate with a reformed Legacy Commission. These reciprocal commitments will help deliver the Good Friday Agreement’s unrealised ambition to “address and acknowledge the suffering of victims and survivors”.

The Government has also today introduced a draft Remedial Order which will remove from statute the previous government’s immunity scheme which proposed to allow terrorists to seek immunity from prosecution. 

The Troubles Bill will 

• Establish a reformed Legacy Commission, with strengthened governance arrangements, new conflict of interest duties, and a statutory oversight board. 
• Give the new Commission enhanced investigative powers and a fairer disclosure regime, ensuring it has all it needs to find answers for families, and the maximum possible information can be made public, subject to proportionate safeguards. 
• Allow a small number of inquests already started to continue, with no fresh inquests beyond those already in the system. Inquests that were stopped part-heard by the Legacy Act will be able to resume. Other inquests that were halted by the Legacy Act will be referred to the Solicitor General to independently consider whether, in each case, they are most appropriately dealt with by a reformed Legacy Commission or via the coronial system.
• Provide for new proceedings within the Commission, for cases that transfer in from the coronial system. The new mechanism, consistent with the approach in the Inquiries Act, will have provision for public hearings, the ability to consider sensitive information in closed hearings, and provide effective next of kin participation, including through legal representation;
• Establish an Independent Commission for Information Retrieval, jointly with the Irish Government, and consistent with the Stormont House Agreement. This will, initially on a pilot basis, provide families with an additional means to retrieve information. The ICIR will not have powers to investigate; its purpose will be to privately receive information about individual cases on behalf of families.

Included within this legislation will be robust protections for veterans who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.  These measures include 

• Right to stay at home – Changing the law to create a presumption in favour of remote evidence, so that veterans are not forced to travel to Northern Ireland to give evidence to the Commission or to an inquest.
  Protection from repeated investigations – The Commission will be under a requirement not to duplicate the work of any previous repeated investigations unless there are compelling reasons that make such duplication essential. 
• Protection in old age – we will legislate through this Bill to require the Commission and coroners to consider the health and wellbeing of elderly witnesses – including whether it would be inappropriate for them to give evidence at all.
• A right to anonymity – We will legislate that any veteran seeking anonymity when giving evidence will now be granted.
• Right to have Veterans’ voices heard – There will be a statutory advisory group that will provide an opportunity for the voices of all those victims and survivors of the Troubles to be heard, including those from the armed forces and police. In addition to this, the MOD will put forward an independent advisor with operational experience to support investigations, to remove the need for veterans to give unnecessary evidence on historical context and general operational details.

Separately to the legislation, the Government is ensuring that veterans will be protected from cold calling through two new protocols. These will ensure they are only ever contacted with the support of the MoD, meaning that from the moment of contact they are supported by the state that asked them to serve.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, said 

The Government will now put into legislation the commitments that we have made both as part of the Joint Framework and to our Armed Forces veterans.

The purpose of all this is to help families who have waited too long to find answers about what happened to their loved ones during the Troubles.

This is our opportunity to deliver on this final part of the Good Friday Agreement and help Northern Ireland politics and broader society to find those answers and move forward.

The Minister for Armed Forces, Al Carns, said 

We promised our veterans who served with honour in Northern Ireland that we would put proper protections in place, and today’s legislation delivers on that commitment.   

After the false promises of the last government, we are putting in place real, workable protections for veterans that the failed Legacy Act never did. We will not allow the process, like so many times before, to become the punishment for our veterans.  

Having served for 24 years and as a serving reservist myself, I understand the importance of avoiding an endless cycle of investigations. These robust safeguards will ensure the rights of those who served their nation so honourably are protected whilst providing families with a fair and transparent system to seek answers.