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“Soldier F” Trial Verdict 2025-11-03
03 November 2025
Lead MP
Alex Burghart
Debate Type
Urgent Question
Tags
DefenceNorthern Ireland
Other Contributors: 21
At a Glance
Alex Burghart raised concerns about “soldier f” trial verdict 2025-11-03 in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
Opened the debate
Will the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland make a statement on the verdict in the trial of Soldier F, which concluded with a not guilty verdict? This urgent question seeks to address concerns about the impact on families of those killed during Bloody Sunday and the implications for justice and reconciliation processes.
Alex Burghart
Con
Brentwood and Ongar
Question
The legacy Act of 2023 is criticised for its conditional immunity, which could have given immunity to terrorists. Is the Secretary of State confident that the current approach will deliver strong protections for veterans without compromising justice?
Minister reply
While respecting the independent nature of legal proceedings, the Government has taken a different approach by reforming the legacy commission and ensuring fairness for veterans through measures acknowledged as providing protection for those affected by legacy issues.
Adam Jogee
Lab
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Question
What steps have been taken to carry all people of Northern Ireland with the Government's approach to legacy, considering that previous proposals were opposed?
Minister reply
The Secretary of State has engaged with political parties and organisations representing victims and survivors since publishing the Bill on 14 October. Despite no proposal being universally welcomed, many have agreed to consider the detailed measures proposed.
Al Pinkerton
LD
Surrey Heath
Question
Is the Secretary of State confident that the new Bill will deliver strong enough protections for British veterans while ensuring justice and truth for victims? What has been done to secure support from veterans' organisations?
Minister reply
The Government has drawn up safeguards after speaking to veterans, which are aimed at offering protection to those within the armed forces community affected by legacy issues. The approach acknowledges the responsibility to treat veterans fairly.
Katrina Murray
Lab
Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch
Question
What assurances can be given that families of military personnel and civilians will remain central to the Government's work going forward, especially considering ongoing impacts on daily life?
Minister reply
The Government aims to create a legacy system with greater confidence from people in Northern Ireland. Arrangements are being put in place to provide information about what happened to families, even where prosecutions are not possible due to time constraints.
Jayne Kirkham
Lab/Co-op
Truro and Falmouth
Question
What discussions has he had with veterans, as well as the Defence Secretary and the Minister for Veterans and People, about the new protection in the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill? Is he or one of the Defence Ministers prepared to speak to veterans in Cornwall on this matter?
Minister reply
I am sure that my right hon. and hon. Friends who are Ministers in the Ministry of Defence will have heard what my hon. Friend has said. The protections in the legislation that has been brought before the House are the result of extensive discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence, the armed forces Ministers, and veterans’ organisations.
David Davis
Con
Goole and Pocklington
Question
Does he not recognise that this is injustice? Wrap it up however he likes, it is injustice, and his legislation will mean that many more such cases will occur.
Minister reply
The legislation that the Government have put before the House will make no change at all to the basis on which decisions about any potential prosecutions are made. Indeed, that system will remain as it has been right through the course of the troubles and in the 27 and a half years since.
David Smith
Lab
North Northumberland
Question
The number of prosecutions of Army veterans is vanishingly small, so will the Secretary of State join me in thanking those veterans for their service and condemn the rhetoric that at times is coming from Conservative Members, which is unnecessarily stoking fear among those veterans?
Minister reply
I have already expressed the Government’s thanks in my answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart), and I think those sentiments are felt right across the House.
Carla Lockhart
DUP
Upper Bann
Question
Does he agree that this case again exposes the disgrace of vexatious prosecutions of aged veterans, pursued where there was never evidence capable of meeting the threshold for conviction? Does he further agree that around 90% of all deaths during the troubles were caused by terrorists?
Minister reply
I do not agree with her when she uses the phrase “vexatious prosecutions”. There are no vexatious prosecutions. [Hon. Members: “What?”] There are no vexatious prosecutions, because if the hon. Member is arguing that a decision to prosecute is vexatious, she is criticising the independent prosecuting authorities, which make their decisions on the basis of whether there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction and whether it is in the public interest to prosecute.
Johanna Baxter
Lab
Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Question
Does he agree that by shutting down investigations—including into the deaths of more than 200 Operation Banner soldiers—the legacy Act failed many families and victims of the troubles?
Minister reply
I share my hon. Friend’s concern about what happened as a result of the legacy Act, but I welcome that two of the cases she mentioned—the M62 coach bombing and Warrenpoint—are currently being investigated by the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
Bernard Jenkin
Con
Harwich and North Essex
Question
Is the real case here not that it is an extraordinary injustice to prosecute people in the line of duty who bear the scars of that conflict, instead of drawing a line?
Minister reply
This is not about equivalence. This is about trying to find a way forward for those families. The honest answer to the fair point that he raises is that each family deals with the loss of their loved one in their own way.
Chingford and Woodford Green
Question
As someone who served in Northern Ireland, does not he understand that this is an issue of justice for soldiers killed by paramilitaries?
Minister reply
What I said was that independent prosecutors would make decisions on the basis of the evidence that they had before them. The current legacy commission is able to refer cases for potential prosecution.
Richard Tice
Reform
Boston and Skegness
Question
Does he not understand that, given the judge’s comments that the evidence fell well short of the standard required, veterans do consider that that was a vexatious prosecution?
Minister reply
The legislation that the Government have put before the House will make no change at all to the basis on which decisions about any potential prosecutions are made. Decisions about prosecutions are taken independently by prosecutors.
Jim Allister
TUV
North Antrim
Question
I greatly welcome the “not guilty” verdict on Soldier F, but has the Secretary of State no empathy with Soldier F, a man who has lived through years of turmoil and torture while awaiting prosecution, in circumstances in which it was patently obvious that the evidence was never going to stack up?
Minister reply
The hon. and learned Gentleman is a distinguished lawyer, and he expresses his views regarding the basis of that prosecution. The only point that I am making is that that decision is made by independent prosecutors, not by any of us.
Harriett Baldwin
Con
West Worcestershire
Question
Could the Secretary of State, at the Dispatch Box, confirm to the families in Justice for the 21 that it would indeed be possible for the commission to look into the Birmingham pub bombings?
Minister reply
It would indeed be possible for them to refer the case to the commission.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
Will the Secretary of State send the message today that he will not sign off on the narrative that our troops—the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Ulster Defence Regiment—were ever anything other than honourable men and women putting their lives on the line for us, and that they will be protected as honourably as they protected us?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the protections that we have put into legislation following the discussions that we have had with veterans, which I referred to earlier. I join him in again paying tribute to the extraordinarily brave service of all those who served during the time of Operation Banner in trying to protect the people of Northern Ireland from the terrorists.
Lincoln Jopp
Con
Spelthorne
Question
Does he believe that Northern Ireland terrorists should be treated equally to Northern Ireland veterans?
Minister reply
The letters of comfort—or the on-the-run letters, however one wishes to describe them—had their origin in the time after the Good Friday agreement, as the hon. Gentleman will be well aware, but, as I explained a moment ago in answer to the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), they did not give anyone immunity from prosecution.
Robin Swann
Ulster Unionist Party
South Antrim
Question
What can he actually provide regarding continuous support for veterans—something set out on the face of the Bill, rather than something that is not in the legislation but is promised by Government?
Minister reply
The protections were put in place for veterans after consulting veterans, and they are not unimportant: the ability to stay at home and give evidence; the protection from repeated investigations; and the right to seek immunity in a hearing of the commission—people already have the right to seek that in a coroner’s court.
Gosport
Question
Is it not time for a time limit on civil actions relating to historical military operations?
Minister reply
The hon. Member raises an important point. It is, however, very important to distinguish, as I know she will, between potential criminal prosecutions, which are the result of decisions of independent prosecutors, and civil cases.
Zarah Sultana
Ind
Coventry South
Question
Can the Secretary of State explain how it was determined and who determined that Soldier F qualified for Ministry of Defence funding, and what precedent this decision was based on?
Minister reply
I say to the hon. Member that the Saville inquiry report made for very sobering and distressing reading for all of us. Like many Members present, I was in the House to hear the former Prime Minister, Lord Cameron, make that apology to the families—something for which they had campaigned for years and years when justice was denied to them.
Question
During his responses today, the Secretary of State has said two things: on the one hand, he said that letters of comfort do not give immunity; and on the other hand, he accepted that letters of comfort stopped the prosecution of Mr Downey for the Hyde Park bombing. It seems to me that those two statements are inconsistent. What way is available to him to correct Hansard and put one of them right?
Minister reply
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. What I said was absolutely accurate, as the right hon. Gentleman well knows. On the circumstances of the trial of Mr Downey in relation to the Hyde Park bombing, the reason why the judge called that to a halt was set out. But subsequent statements made it quite clear that those letters of comfort did not constitute immunity, as the subsequent events—not least the impending prosecution of Mr Downey—demonstrate.
Government Response
The trial of Soldier F concluded with a not guilty verdict, and the Ministry of Defence provided him with legal and pastoral support. The Government respects the independent nature of legal proceedings and acknowledges that obtaining convictions can become increasingly difficult due to the passage of time. The legacy Act of 2023 aims to provide fairness for veterans while upholding the rule of law, addressing issues raised by previous legislation which was found incompatible with human rights obligations.
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