Overview
- MPs kept the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill alive for the next session with a 279–176 carry-over vote on Monday, preventing it from falling before the King’s Speech in May.
- The bill would repeal and replace the Conservative Legacy Act by ending its conditional immunity scheme found unlawful by the courts and by creating a reworked Legacy Commission under a UK–Ireland framework.
- Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said forthcoming amendments will bar repeated investigations, stop cold-calling of veterans, require age and welfare to be weighed, and allow veterans to give evidence remotely and anonymously.
- Conservatives, the DUP and veterans’ groups oppose the plan, with Kemi Badenoch calling it a bid to pursue soldiers through the courts and Alex Burghart warning that convictions are likely “vanishingly small” even as cases drag on.
- Public pressure has grown through a petition reported above 200,000 signatures, planned veteran protests at Westminster, and scrutiny of Armed Forces minister Al Carns’s reported overseas absence during the vote, as ministers prepare to table changes next session.