Warning over 'grim' fallout from NI bill

MILITARY LEADERS SAY TROUBLES BILL MAY WEAKEN SPECIAL FORCES

- By WILL DURRANT

SEVEN former military leaders have warned of a "grim" fallout from the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which they say could weaken UK special forces.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the former private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge who served in the Special Air Service, was among the figures who warned peacetime human rights regimes “scapegoat the front line”.

The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will end an immunity scheme introduced in 2023 and restore some inquests related to the conflict during the late 20th Century.

But writing in the Telegraph, the seven former senior officers said: "In this Troubles Bill, the Government is complicit in this war on our armed forces."