The Tories say Labour’s plan to replace the controversial Troubles legacy act is “rapidly unravelling” after Gerry Adams confirmed he intends to launch legal action against it. Labour has promised its new Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will put in place “a fair and transparent system that enables families of victims, including those who never came home from service in Northern Ireland, to seek answers.”
However, former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has confirmed he will take legal action against the Government over its changes as he’s angry over new changes to the bill that will block him from suing the taxpayer for compensation – a U-turn which was forced on Labour by the Tories.
Shadow Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois said the Government’s Northern Ireland Legacy strategy is “rapidly unravelling, within 48 hours of being announced”.
He told the Express: “After months of intense opposition from the Conservatives, they finally dropped their bonkers proposals to help Gerry Adams sue the Government – and now he’s suing them anyway! His case would ultimately be resisted by the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, who prior to the election was, er,… Gerry Adams’s personal lawyer, in trying to sue the Government!”
At the heart of the dispute is whether Mr Adams and other former internees should be entitled to compensation for being detained without trial in the 1970s. In 2020, a Supreme Court judgement initially paved the way for Mr Adams to secure compensation over his internment in the early 1970s. It ruled his detention was unlawful because the interim custody order (ICO) used to initially detain him had not been “considered personally” by then Northern Ireland Secretary Willie Whitelaw, although the Government at the time of the case argued the ICOs were lawful due to a longstanding convention known as the Carltona principle.
However, the 2023 Legacy Act — introduced by the last Conservative government — stopped such payouts to Mr Adams and other former internees. It retrospectively validated the ICOs to make them lawful and halted civil claims related to the orders. But in February last year, the High Court in Belfast ruled the provisions of the Act related to the ICOs were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Labour Government did not appeal against that section of the High Court judgment but instead pledged to find a lawful means to block payouts. The Government believes the new Troubles Bill will prevent payouts as it proposes to reaffirm the so-called Carltona principle into law.
In a Sinn Féin press release, Adams said: “In January Keir Starmer made it clear that he would look at ‘every conceivable way’ to ensure that I and others impacted by this did not receive compensation. Yesterday the British government produced legislation which upholds the quashing of the convictions but denies compensation.”
He added: “This is clearly discriminatory. Once again the British state changes the rules to protect its security personnel while denying others equality of treatment.”
Louise Sandher-Jones, Minister for Veterans and People, told the Express: “We believe that with the Carltona principle and we have introduced legislation this week to reiterate that the detentions were lawful.”