Labour's betrayal of brave Northern Ireland veterans

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.

- By Conor Wilson

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.

Superficial

There is also consideration of old age or illness, protection from repetition of evidence and cold calling, the right to anonymity and a mechanism for veterans' voices to be heard.