Dear Prime Minister,
“DEFENDING THOSE WHO DEFENDED US” - Preventing Legal persecution of Veterans
We, the undersigned, call on Her Majesty‘s Government to take action and put in place a lasting legal protection for our Armed Services and Security Personnel, wherever and whenever they serve.
The IHAT (Iraq Historic Allegations Team) furore showed us how our judicial system can be abused and how it can damage our security services. The legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles threatens to do just the same, and we believe it is time for the Government to act comprehensively and put it all behind us.
We call upon you as Prime Minister to work alongside the Secretary of State for Defence, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Attorney General to ensure we find a solution to this challenging and complex problem.
There are some 300,000 former service and security personnel from all parts of the United Kingdom who served in Northern Ireland, and many others served in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan. This protection must cover veterans of Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan together. Many of these veterans are living not just in all parts of the UK, but also in the Republic of Ireland and many other countries as well. This action needs to be conducted in the same way throughout the whole of the United Kingdom.
The Conservative Party Manifesto 2017 said very clearly; “We will protect our brave Armed Forces personnel from persistent legal claims, which distress those who risk their lives for us, cost the taxpayer millions and undermine the armed forces in the service they give. Under a Conservative government, British troops will in future be subject to the Law of Armed Conflict, which includes the Geneva Convention and UK Service Law, not the European Court of Human Rights”.
The Armed Forces Act 2011 specified that “ It is desirable to remove disadvantages arising from membership or former membership of the armed forces” (Part 16a 343A (3)(b)),and specifically singles out “The fields of healthcare, education and housing, the operation of inquests, and such other fields as the Secretary of State may determine” (Part 16a 343A (2)).
In addition, the Government have frequently paraded the fact that the Armed Forces Covenant has been enshrined in law, via the Armed Forces Act 2011. We clearly welcome this.
It is blatantly obvious that the current process of investigating and reinvestigating veterans, for incidents which were all investigated at the time, is completely at odds with the Government’s Manifesto commitments in the Armed Forces Covenant. We therefore believe that this situation simply cannot be allowed to continue as it is.
The present plans in The Stormont House Agreement especially those for a Historic Inquiries Unit do not keep to these Manifesto promises and clearly put our service and security personnel at an exceptional ‘disadvantage’.
We have often heard the promise that the reinvestigation process will be fair, impartial, balanced and proportionate. We fully understand that no one should be above the law, but investigating only certain aspects of the past, whilst terrorists are treated differently by the judiciary means such a careful balance can never be so. Moreover, it is our duty to stand up for and defend those who defended us in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan and those who may follow them in the future. A new approach is desperately needed.
We therefore are calling on the government to take action and put a comprehensive and just plan together to remedy this situation.
We all feel passionately about this cause and hope that by writing to you in this way it will lead to clear and early action on your part.
Yours ever
Rt Hon Mark Francois MP Sir Henry Bellingham MP Sir Hugo Swire MP
Rt Hon Richard Benyon MP Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon MP Richard Drax MP
Rt Hon Dr Julian Lewis MP Bob Stewart DSO MP Leo Docherty MP
Johnny Mercer MP Robert Courts MP Baron Robathan
Baron Ramsbotham Baron Dannatt Baron Blencathra