British prime minister Keir Starmer has said he is looking at “every conceivable way” to stop former Troubles internees such as Gerry Adams from seeking compensation.
He was responding to criticism of his government’s proposed repeal of legislation that had put a stop to such civil claims.
Asked during prime minister’s questions about claims that the former Sinn Féin president and 400 others interned during the Northern Ireland Troubles could get compensation from the British government, Mr Starmer said he would strive to make sure this did not happen.
Jonathan Caine, a former government adviser to three Northern Ireland secretaries, has urged the government to rethink its planned repeal of the Legacy Act 2023.
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The Conservatives had inserted a clause into the Legacy Act blocking compensation payments to Adams and others who had been unlawfully interned during the 1970s, after a supreme court ruling in 2020.
That ruling in effect quashed Mr Adams’s conviction for two attempts to escape the Maze prison in 1973 and 1974 after being detained without trial, a practice imposed by the British government in Northern Ireland to combat republican violence.
The government has tabled a remedial order in parliament that would repeal parts of the act, including sections covering interim custody orders not signed by the Northern Ireland secretary at the time.
Responding to Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, who asked if the government would “write a cheque to compensate Gerry Adams”, Mr Starmer said the Legacy Act was “unfit, not least because it gave immunity to hundreds of terrorists and wasn’t supported by victims in Northern Ireland, nor, I believe, by any of the political parties in Northern Ireland”.
He went on: “We will put in place a better framework. We’re working on a draft remedial order and replacement legislation, and we will look at every conceivable way to prevent these types of cases claiming damages, and it’s important I say that on the record.”
But Downing Street could not guarantee that compensation payouts would be prevented. “Clearly the government’s intention is to prevent compensation from being paid. We are going to look at every option but I can’t get ahead of that process,” the prime minister’s official spokesman said when asked about a guarantee.
Asked if there are real, conceivable options to block payments, he said: “The prime minister wouldn’t make the commitment on the floor of the House if he didn’t think we could address this issue.
“But as I say, it is a complex area and we have been left with a real mess when it comes to the Northern Ireland Legacy Act, which was completely unfit for purpose.”
[ The Irish Times view on the Legacy Act: welcome moves to undo the damageOpens in new window ]
A spokesman for Mrs Badenoch said there were “almost certainly” no circumstances in which she would support awarding compensation.
“But we are going to need to see what the Bill is that the prime minister comes forward with,” the Opposition leader’s spokesman said.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said “nobody wants to see” Mr Adams paid compensation for his detention but defended the decision to repeal.
He told the Commons: “Nobody wants to see that but the Supreme Court judgment which ruled that the interim custody orders following internment were not lawfully put in place, in which the Carltona principle was much discussed, was in 2020.
“The last government did nothing about that for three years until they belatedly accepted an amendment in the House of Lords which has now been found to be unlawful.”
He was urged by his shadow counterpart Alex Burghart to “return to the previous cross-party position that we have to block compensation payments to terrorists such as Gerry Adams”.
The minister vowed to “continue to see if we can find a lawful way of dealing with the issue that he has identified”. - PA/Guardian