Government drops part of appeal

The government has dropped its ongoing legal challenge against a court ruling which declared parts of the Troubles Legacy Act to be unlawful.

It centred on the most contentious aspect of the act which offered conditional immunity to suspects in exchange for information about Troubles-era crimes.

Government lawyers had argued in an appeal hearing last month to retain the immunity provision.

Judgement in that case was due in the autumn.

But now the new Labour government has abandoned that appeal in keeping with its pledge to scrap and replace the Troubles Legacy Act.

The move was confirmed in a written Westminster statement by Secretary of State Hilary Benn.

He said the government had written to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal to “formally abandon all its ground of appeal” against the provisions around immunity from prosecution.

“This is the first step in fulfilling the government’s manifesto commitment to repeal and replace the act,” he added.

He accused the previous Conservative government of ignoring the views of victims and survivors.

“The conditional immunity provisions in particular have been opposed by all of the Northern Ireland political parties and by many victims and survivors, as well as being found by the court to be unlawful,” he said.

The secretary of state also confirmed plans to remove the “offending provisions from the statute book”.

But Mr Benn defended his decision to retain another key element of the act – the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

He said the courts had found the commission to be independent and capable of conducting human rights complaint investigation.

But he added its success will be determined by its ability to deliver for victims.

The statement also reaffirmed the government pledge to allow inquests which were previously halted to go ahead and allow for civil cases to be taken.

The government will now begin a series of consultations to find the “best way forward” in dealing with Troubles-related deaths.

Those who will be consulted include victims, survivors, political parties and veterans who served in the security forces.

But the government has not completely abandoned its wider appeal.

It has asked the court to rule on part of its legal challenge involving concerns around EU laws and the Windsor Framework.

It argued this part of the judgement “has potentially wide-ranging implications for other UK legislations which extends to Northern Ireland”.