Dan Jarvis

The Northern Ireland Office today circulated what it said was a Home Office list of attacks in England by the IRA and other paramilitaries which resulted in 77 deaths, including 39 members of the security forces, and injured over 1,000 people.

It comes as MPs debate the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill for the first time.

The bill will “repeal and replace” the previous government’s controversial Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 and comes after the UK and Irish governments launched a new joint framework for dealing with legacy issues.

Dan Jarvis, the UK government’s security minister and a former member of the Parachute Regiment who served in Northern Ireland, said the law will guarantee that “no terrorist will be able to claim immunity from prosecution”.

All UK police investigations into Troubles-related killings were shut down on 1 May 2024 under the 2023 Act, which established the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

The legislation also included an immunity scheme which would have protected individuals from prosecution for Troubles-related killings — however, it never came into force after it was ruled unlawful by Northern Ireland’s High Court.

The government’s new legislation will put in place a reformed Legacy Commission with enhanced powers and formally repeal the immunity scheme.

In a statement today, Mr Jarvis said: “When the Provisional IRA brought their campaign of terror to England from the early 1970s they killed and injured innocent people in our towns and cities, including many members of our Armed Forces.

“The last government’s Legacy Act shut down police investigations and proposed immunity for terrorists. This left many families feeling they had nowhere to go to continue their search for justice, or simply for answers about what happened to their loved ones.

“This government’s legislation will put that right. It guarantees no terrorist will be able to claim immunity from prosecution, while ensuring there is an effective and wholly independent Legacy Commission to conduct investigations that families right across the United Kingdom can have confidence in.”