I voted in favour of the Northern Ireland Remedial Order because it was necessary to correct serious flaws in the Legacy Act 2023 and to bring the law back into line with our human rights obligations.

The original legislation included an immunity scheme that was legally defective and fundamentally flawed. Crucially, the immunity provisions were never commenced by the previous Government because of the legal uncertainty surrounding them. UK courts subsequently ruled that key parts of the Act were incompatible with our human rights obligations, making remedial action unavoidable. Any responsible government would have had to address this failure.

I also have a clear moral objection to the principle underpinning the immunity scheme. There is, and must never be, any moral equivalence between British service personnel and terrorist organisations. British forces were deployed in Northern Ireland to uphold the rule of law and maintain order, and the overwhelming majority served with professionalism, restraint and distinction under extremely difficult circumstances. By contrast, paramilitary groups did not adhere to any rules or laws and committed deliberate acts of terror and atrocity. Immunity should never have been an option for those responsible for such crimes.

The Remedial Order removes both the failed immunity scheme and the bar on civil cases. Civil proceedings have long provided a lawful means for victims and families to seek truth and accountability, including in cases involving terrorist atrocities. Removing that right was wrong in principle and contrary to the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.

This vote was not about reopening old wounds, nor about subjecting veterans to endless or repeated investigations. Doing nothing would only have prolonged legal uncertainty, led to further court challenges, and left veterans, victims and families without clarity or confidence in the system. The Remedial Order provides certainty and creates the conditions for a fairer and more workable framework.

We owe a profound debt to those who served in Northern Ireland, and it is right that new legislation puts in place proper safeguards to ensure veterans are treated with dignity, respect and fairness, while also allowing families, including those of service personnel, to seek answers about the deaths of their loved ones.

For these legal, moral and practical reasons, I supported the Northern Ireland Remedial Order.

I will also be supporting the new protections and safeguards for veterans within the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill currently before Parliament. This legislation will strengthen protections for veterans by placing a clear statutory duty on the new Commission to avoid repeating previous investigations unless there are genuinely compelling reasons to do so. It will guarantee a right for veterans to give evidence remotely, ensuring that no former service personnel are compelled to travel to Northern Ireland to participate in Commission proceedings or inquests, with judges and coroners required in law to permit remote evidence except where it is genuinely impracticable. The Bill will also allow veterans to seek anonymity when giving evidence, require the Commission and coroners to take proper account of age, health and wellbeing before requesting evidence, particularly for elderly witnesses, and establish a statutory advisory group to ensure that the voices of all victims and survivors of the Troubles are heard, including those from a service background, with the wider operational context of incidents properly taken into account.

These are complex and deeply sensitive issues, and they deserve to be discussed on the basis of facts, evidence and the rule of law, not distorted by misinformation or driven by abuse online.