Labour is currently progressing its Troubles Bill at Westminster.
The Troubles Legacy Bill will include “additional protections and reassurances” for veterans on its return to Parliament, the Northern Ireland Secretary has said.
Hilary Benn also said there is no such thing as “vexatious” prosecutions, but it is “vital those who served the State” are able to have confidence in the legislation.
Labour is currently progressing its Troubles Bill at Westminster, which will replace the controversial Legacy Act introduced by the previous government.
MPs backed a remedial order which removed the measures in the previous Act providing conditional immunity from prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes, as well as scrapping a bar on future legacy compensation cases.
The immunity provision had been found to be unlawful in the courts.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also indicated that new protections for military veterans will be added to the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill.
In a written statement on Wednesday, Mr Benn claimed the Troubles Bill “has been welcomed by a significant number of victims, families and representative groups”, with many recognising it will allow their cases to “be taken forward sensitively, efficiently and lawfully”.
He said: “The new safeguards the Bill will put in place for veterans and other former service personnel have also been broadly welcomed. It has been clear, however, that we must do more through the legislation to safeguard our veterans community.
“It is vital that those who served the State, to whom we owe so much and to whom we have a particular duty of care, are able to have confidence in the legislation.”
He said the Government will bring forward “a substantial package of amendments designed to improve the process for victims and families, further safeguard our Operation Banner veterans and ensure oversight of their protections, and clearly differentiate between the role played during the Troubles by our brave security forces and the actions of paramilitary terrorists”.
The Secretary of State clarified that the Bill will now return to the House in the next parliamentary session.
On Wednesday, Mr Benn gave evidence to Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights where he was asked if the intention was to strengthen existing veterans’ protections in the Bill or to introduce additional measures.
He clarified these would be “additional protections and reassurances” because the Government has “continued to listen”.
“People have said, ‘Oh, well, the only people getting prosecuted these days are veterans, no paramilitaries get prosecuted’,” Mr Benn said.
“Well, just a small fact to aid debate, there are currently 10 live prosecutions relating to the Troubles, 10.
“Eight of them relate to paramilitaries, eight.
“One is RUC and one of the cases involving the army, and no one can look at those facts, and they are facts, and say those who committed paramilitary crimes, terrorist crimes, no-one’s interested any more and no-one’s trying to hold them to account.”
Earlier in the session when asked if he would consider an amendment requiring consent by the Attorney General to pursue Troubles crimes, Mr Benn said decisions about prosecutions need to be “taken by independent prosecutors”.
“That’s an absolute foundation of our system, and I say that in the context of some who’ve tried to argue there are such things as vexatious or political prosecutions, which I take the opportunity, once again, to refute utterly,” he said.
“There is no such thing as a vexation prosecution or a politically motivated prosecution, and we should trust the independence of our prosecutors.”
Conservative MP Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) asked Mr Benn if the Supreme Court ruled that immunity for Troubles veterans was consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights whether he would consider it in the Bill.
The Northern Ireland Secretary reiterated the Government’s opposition to immunity in principle, a view he said was shared by “many veterans I’ve met who say, ‘I don’t believe that I should be immune from the criminal law in a way that doesn’t apply to anybody else, just because I am putting on the King’s uniform’.
“It’s a matter of principle.”
He added: “I’ve met many, many people who were really cross at the idea that those who committed the most terrible crimes, paramilitaries, during the Troubles, should be able to get away with it, because that’s what the immunity provisions in the Legacy Act would have provided for.”
Sinn Fein MP John Finucane said the Northern Ireland’s Secretary decision “is designed to placate the British military lobby”.
“The only way this can be viewed is as an act of extreme political cynicism as the British Labour Party watches its electoral base crumble ahead of next month’s elections,” he said.
“The British Government has reneged on its previous legacy commitments in pursuit of votes and in the process will attempt to bury the secrets of Britain’s war in Ireland at whatever cost.
“Hilary Benn accepts this is the final chance to get legacy right, as do many. But by delaying this Bill and drawing up a loaded package of protections for British military personnel, he is clearly signalling his intent.”
