The British government’s latest attempt to deal with more than 1,000 unsolved killings during The Troubles in Northern Ireland has highlighted a “hole” in the Good Friday Agreement, says a leading expert on conflict resolution.
Duncan Morrow, a politics professor and director of community engagement at Ulster University, said there was “suspicion” the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill was driven by an attempt to pacify Tory backbenchers who wanted to avoid British Army veterans being prosecuted.
In May 2021 the trial of two former British Army soldiers charged with murdering Joe McCann, an Official IRA man, in 1972, collapsed.
Conservative MP Johnny Mercer resigned as veterans minister after calling the trial “shameful” and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government later announced plans to offer a full amnesty to former soldiers….