I have observed Remembrance weekend since early childhood. I was raised with deep reverence for my grandparents and the sacrifices they, and their generation, made through two world wars, so I could grow up with freedom and opportunity.
Another close relative served as a signaller with the Royal Engineers in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, putting his life at risk for our country. I feel a debt of gratitude to him and all who served during Operation Banner. Many were barely out of their teens, facing extraordinarily difficult and dangerous circumstances. Their sacrifice must never be forgotten, particularly the 1,441 British military personnel who never came home.
My own childhood gave me a personal appreciation of the threats they faced. I still remember the fear of being swept along by my Mum as we ran with a panicked crowd away from the site of an IRA bomb while Christmas shopping in Blackpool, December 1991. Seven years later, the Good Friday Agreement brought hope that the terrible violence might finally be coming to an end.
Then, as I sat my A-levels in 2001, the 9/11 attacks ushered in a new era of conflict. Young British service personnel, many not much older than me, were sent to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some never returned. 457 lost their lives in Afghanistan and 179 in Iraq.
Across generations, ordinary men and women have answered the call to serve, often at extraordinary personal cost. Words alone cannot repay the debt, but we must remember their sacrifices and do all we can to support those who serve, or who have served, to live their best lives.
That is at the heart of this Government’s approach. It is why we have increased armed forces salaries by over 14%, committed £7 billion to improve military housing, and launched Operation VALOUR to support veterans and their families to access housing, healthcare and employment.
It is also why Labour has brought forward new legislation to strengthen protections for veterans who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. I understand people’s worries about this, so I want to explain what it means and why it matters:
We are trying to protect veterans from vexatious prosecutions, while removing immunity from terrorists so that victims and bereaved families can get the answers and justice they deserve. This includes the family of Private Tony Harrison, a British soldier executed in cold blood by the IRA at his fiancé’s home in 1991, while they finalised their wedding plans. Despite fresh information on the identity of Private Harrison’s murderers, the investigation was abruptly slammed shut when the 2023 Legacy Act became law. This is because it created a false equivalence between British soldiers and IRA terrorists, granting the same conditional immunity to both.
At the same time, the Act only prevented new trials, it did nothing at all about the 800 cases already in the legal system – hence, the former British paratrooper, known as “Soldier F” was prosecuted while the Act was in place! And it could not guarantee veterans its promise of ‘immunity’ from new charges in the end, because the amnesty provisions were struck down by the Northern Ireland High Court in Feb 2024, finding them unconstitutional and incompatible with human rights laws that protect people from torture and killing.
The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill currently working its way through parliament attempts to untangle this mess: creating a reformed “Legacy Commission” to provide answers to survivors and close family of deceased, while at the same time introducing very strong legal safeguards for British army veterans.
These include protection against unexpected contact; a right to anonymity; a right to give evidence remotely; protection in old age; protection against repeated investigations without compelling new evidence; and a requirement that only the Attorney General can permit a serious Troubles-related prosecution to succeed – a very significant safeguard!
The Bill explicitly rejects any equivalence between the lawful conduct of Armed Forces personnel and terrorist actions. It also requires coroners to consider the operational circumstances in which soldiers acted, included their training, orders, and the split-second decisions they sometimes had to make.
The government consulted widely with veterans’ groups and made 144 amendments to its own Bill to get it right. Nobody is obliged to agree with every aspect of this complex legislation. But veterans deserve an honest debate, not misleading claims designed to generate anger for political advantage.
So, this Remembrance weekend, let us put politics aside, focus on what unites us, and come together in gratitude and reflection.
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