Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023

Wednesday 19 November 2025 · 9 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 9 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Secretary of State committed to continue consulting with veterans organizations and the Royal British Legion to ensure strong protections for veterans.
  • The Government has engaged with Libyan authorities regarding the Warrington bombing and the pursuit of justice for victims.
  • The Secretary of State reaffirmed that no one with a paramilitary background will be appointed to the victims and survivors group.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Sam Rushworth Lab Bishop Auckland
Northern Ireland Veterans
Context

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 has faced criticism from various groups, including veterans. The Secretary of State is assessing the adequacy of this act.

Question

I am proud to represent a community with a lot of veterans, many of whom served in Northern Ireland. Who is the Secretary of State engaging with to ensure that the protections for our veterans in the legislation are as strong and effective as possible?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

Those protections have been drawn up following extensive consultation with veterans organisations, and I gave the House a commitment yesterday evening that I will continue to talk to veterans, the Royal British Legion, the veterans commissions and others to make sure that we get them right.

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Q2 Sarah Hall Labour (Co-op) Warrington South
Northern Ireland Foreign Affairs
Context

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 has failed to address the concerns of victims, including Colin and Wendy Parry, whose son Tim was murdered in a bombing.

Question

My constituents Colin and Wendy Parry, whose 12-year-old son Tim was murdered, along with three-year-old Johnathan Ball, in the 1993 Warrington bombing, have waited over 30 years for justice. Will the Secretary of State ensure that the Government act on the extracts of the Shawcross report and the all-party parliamentary group on Northern Ireland’s 2018 recommendations, and that there will be work across Government to deliver justice for Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism? Will he meet me to discuss these matters?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

The whole House will once again want to express its sympathy to all the families affected by that terrible bombing. The Government and predecessor Governments have raised this issue with the Libyan authorities. Engaging with them is a difficult process, and there are complications to do with the way in which their assets are held. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is the lead on this matter, and I will make sure that the appropriate Minister hears the request that my hon. Friend has made.

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Q3 Alex Easton Ind North Down
Northern Ireland Veterans
Context

The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill was introduced to replace the failed legacy act. However, it has not yet won confidence among veterans.

Question

Is it not the reality that this legislation has failed to win the confidence of many who served, and that we now need clear, robust protections against repeated investigations so that we honour our veterans in practice and not just in rhetoric?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

Those protections, including against repeated investigations, are clearly set out in the Bill that the House gave a Second Reading to yesterday. I hope that, as people come to understand that they are there and how they work, they will offer the reassurance that the hon. Gentleman is looking for.

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Q4 Jim Allister TUV North Antrim
Northern Ireland
Context

The Secretary of State has given assurances that no paramilitaries will be appointed to the victims and survivors group.

Question

Yesterday in the Second Reading debate, the Secretary of State gave an undertaking that he would not appoint any paramilitaries to the victims and survivors group. In light of that undertaking, will he now underwrite it by indicating that he will accept an amendment to put into statutory form that there cannot be any paramilitary serving on that group? If his undertaking is good, let us make it even better by putting it in statute.

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

From memory, I gave that undertaking three times at the Dispatch Box yesterday, and I hoped that it would provide the hon. and learned Member with the assurance that he seeks, because I am clear that no one with that record will be appointed to the victims and survivors panel.

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Q5 Perran Moon Lab Camborne and Redruth
Northern Ireland Veterans
Context

The previous legacy act was ruled against by domestic courts for providing immunity to terrorists.

Question

Yesterday, along with the Veterans Minister, I met a group of special forces veterans based in Cornwall. The legacy Act’s immunity scheme, which would have enabled immunity for terrorists and included other key provisions, was ruled against by our domestic courts. Is it not the case that any new Government would have had to deal with that?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

My hon. Friend is right—that is indeed the case. It was wrong to bring forward legislation to seek to give immunity to terrorists, which is what the last Government’s legacy Act did, and that is probably the principal reason why it had no support in Northern Ireland, including from victims and survivors. It is a fundamental principle that we believe in the rule of law and that it should apply to everyone. That is why the Government are acting, through the legislation and the remedial order, to finally lay that failed attempt at immunity to rest.

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Q6 Gregory Stafford Con Farnham and Bordon
Northern Ireland Veterans
Context

The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill includes new protections for veterans that were not present in the previous act.

Question

Was the Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris wrong when he said that there were no new protections for veterans in the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

There clearly are new protections for veterans in the troubles Bill—throughout the legislation—that were never in the previous legislation that the last Government passed. We have laid them out to the House, and the veterans community and others can see clearly what they are.

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Q7 Alex Burghart Con Brentwood and Ongar
Northern Ireland Foreign Affairs
Context

The Omagh bombing in 1998 was the deadliest attack during the troubles. The UK government has initiated an inquiry into whether state authorities could have prevented it.

Question

On 15 August 1998 in Omagh, the Real IRA murdered 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins. It was the deadliest attack of the troubles, and the most wicked. Following the 2021 recommendation of Mr Justice Horner, the last Conservative Government launched the Omagh inquiry into whether UK state authorities could have done anything to prevent the bombing. However, the bombers planned and launched their attack from the Republic of Ireland, which is why Mr Justice Horner also said that an independent inquiry was needed in the Republic to ask whether Irish state authorities could have done anything. Given that the UK inquiry was announced three years ago, did the Secretary of State raise the question of an inquiry in the south with his counterparts on his recent trip to Dublin?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

I have raised that question in my conversations with the Irish Government. It is, of course, for the Irish Government to decide whether they wish to hold a public inquiry but, as the hon. Gentleman will be well aware, the Irish Government have committed to co-operate fully with the inquiry that the last Government established, both through the memorandum of understanding on the provision of information and the commitment they have made to legislate to allow witnesses to give evidence to it.

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Q8 Alex Burghart Con Brentwood and Ongar
Northern Ireland
Context

The Omagh bombing in 1998 was the deadliest attack during the troubles. The UK government has initiated an inquiry into whether state authorities could have prevented it.

Question

I thank the Secretary of State for his answer, and I am aware that the Republic is sharing the information with our inquiry, but he will be aware that the Omagh inquiry is only capable of answering questions about what UK state authorities did and did not do. Four years ago, Mr Justice Horner said that there needed to be a parallel inquiry in the south. The victims and families recognise that; does the Secretary of State recognise it?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

I recognise what the judge said in his judgment four years ago, and I strongly support what the last Government did to establish a public inquiry, but it is for the Irish Government to make that decision. I hope that with the unprecedented co-operation that the Irish Government have undertaken to give the inquiry, they will provide vital information for the inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened.

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Q9 Hilary Benn Lab Leeds Central
Veterans
Context

The Government is reviewing veterans' rights and protections. Hilary Benn has previously engaged with the Government on this issue.

Question

I will gladly write to the hon. Gentleman to set out the veterans’ organisations that the Government, the Defence Secretary, the Minister for the Armed Forces and I have engaged with in drawing up those protections, and I have already indicated to the House the groups that we will continue to talk to as we take that work forward.

Answer from The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)

I will gladly write to the hon. Gentleman to set out the veterans’ organisations that the Government, the Defence Secretary, the Minister for the Armed Forces and I have engaged with in drawing up those protections, and I have already indicated to the House the groups that we will continue to talk to as we take that work forward.

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