On 14 July 2021 the Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis, told the House of Commons that the government intended to end prosecutions for Troubles-related offences. Campaign groups and many politicians described the plan as an amnesty and, in the strongest criticism, a whitewash of killings by state forces. The government said it was the only realistic way to get information to families.
What was proposed
The command paper, Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's Past, proposed:
- a statute of limitations covering all Troubles-related offences, applying equally to former soldiers and former paramilitaries;
- an end to legacy inquests and civil actions;
- a new independent body to recover information for families, and an oral history initiative.
The reaction
The response in Northern Ireland was unusually united. All five main parties at Stormont opposed the plan, though for different reasons. The Irish government said it was not acceptable. Victims' groups from across the community, including families of people killed by paramilitaries and by the state, said it would deny them justice. Human-rights organisations argued it would breach the UK's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Some veterans' groups welcomed an end to prosecutions of former soldiers.
What became law
The proposals were modified into the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent in September 2023. Instead of blanket immunity it offered conditional immunity to people who cooperated with a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, and it brought most legacy inquests and civil cases to an end.
The Act was challenged immediately. In February 2024 the High Court in Belfast found the immunity provisions incompatible with the Convention, and the Irish government brought an inter-state case at the European Court of Human Rights. After the July 2024 election the new Labour government said it would repeal and replace the Act. In September 2025 the UK and Irish governments published a joint framework, and new legislation was introduced at Westminster in October 2025.
The Finucane connection
The Finucane inquiry was announced in September 2024 under the Inquiries Act 2005, separately from the Legacy Act. But the arguments in 2021 were about the same thing the Finucane family had argued for since 1989: that the state cannot be the final judge of its own conduct.