Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Monday 19th October 2026 Commons Chamber

If that concludes interventions on this issue, I will move on to my next point, which is about how those who serve the state are treated with dignity and respect. The goal of this legislation is to create a human rights compliant legacy process in which all communities, including veterans and former police officers, can have absolute confidence. When we introduced the Bill, we included a number of safeguards for former service personnel. Following further engagement with a wide variety of groups, I, along with the Defence Secretary and the Minister for Veterans and People, the hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey), who I see in his place, am now introducing further amendments to ensure that our veterans are treated fairly.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Stamford) (Con)]

On that point, will the Secretary of State give way?

[Chris Bryant]

Can the hon. Lady wait until I finish my next paragraph?

[Alicia Kearns]

indicated assent.

[Chris Bryant]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady.

I think and hope that all hon. Members agree that there is no moral equivalence between the lawful actions of our armed forces and the barbaric acts of terrorism for which paramilitaries were responsible, as Members including the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim and the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) have set out through their amendments. Government new clause 32 makes it clear that the lawful actions of soldiers in the course of duty cannot be treated by the legacy commission as equivalent to the actions of terrorists.

[Alicia Kearns]

The Secretary of State talks about protections for those who served our country. One key achievement of the legacy Act was stopping new inquests that could threaten to expose those who served our country to vexatious claims, particularly in the case of Loughgall, which is one of the best known cases. Do his amendments definitively stop any such vexatious claims coming forward again?

[Chris Bryant]

The term “vexatious claim” could in itself be argued to be vexatious. A phrase that I have used a couple of times is “rinse and repeat”. I will come to that a little later. I am keen to ensure that nobody is subjected to being brought back time and again to face the same kind of process.