Labour's 'betrayal' of brave Northern Ireland veterans

Ex-troops fear prosecutions for actions during Troubles

- By Conor Wilson

PLANS to repeal legislation designed to protect veterans of Northern Ireland from prosecutions will leave them with fewer rights than the “witches of Salem”, a former SAS man has claimed.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, inset, has described the Legacy Act, passed in 2023, as unlawful so it is being replaced by a new UK/Irish framework.

But veterans fear that allowing all unresolved decades-old incidents to be investigated by a new unit in the Republic of Ireland will leave them facing a two-tier justice system.

Soldier Z, who left the special forces in 2020, said: “The witches of Salem had a better chance of fairness facing the lynch-mob puritans, than us poor, prejudged British veterans today.”

Within the new framework are six protections for ex-troops. They will no longer be forced to go to Northern Ireland to give evidence.

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