Lord Hain
Main Page: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Hain (Lab)
My Lords, I welcome my noble friend’s explanations in answer to the questions, which are very helpful, as well as the Statement. I also welcome the restoration of inquests and civil actions as routes to truth and justice for victims and survivors, because they should never have been closed in the first place.
Does my noble friend agree that ICRIR needs significant reform to win trust? It does not have that trust among victims and survivors at the moment, and it must gain it. There is real fear that it will focus on what one might call light-touch reviews rather than proper Operation Kenova investigations—truth recovery investigations. I accept that it should not undermine the security services, and Operation Kenova did not do that. It had the confidence of victims and survivors. The new process needs genuinely unfettered access to information, unencumbered by the test of reasonableness. The Minister explained that the Secretary of State will complete the repeal and replace commitment made by the Government. How will he do that specifically in the interest of victims and survivors, because that has to be paramount?