Overview
- Conservative MPs plan to force changes when Parliament returns, with defence spokesman James Cartlidge set to challenge ministers and warn the bill could deter recruits and constrain special forces.
- The proposed law would end the 2023 immunity scheme, reopen some inquests into Troubles-era deaths, and set up a reformed commission alongside an information‑recovery body.
- Northern Ireland Veterans’ Commissioner David Johnstone says the plan exposes former soldiers to disproportionate legal risk and argues destroyed paramilitary evidence makes prosecutions of terrorists unlikely.
- Ministers insist the bill was shaped with veterans and will include six lawful protections, noting parts of the previous Legacy Act were found incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights by the Belfast High Court.
- Veterans’ groups, including the SAS Regimental Association, have threatened legal action, and Conservatives are drafting amendments to require prosecutors to weigh age, health, trauma and prior investigations in any cases.