UK Supreme Court Backs Government in Troubles Legacy Act Appeal

The UK Supreme Court allowed a government appeal in a major Troubles legacy case. Victims' campaigners called the decision a bitter blow.

Judges in London ruled that parts of the 2023 Legacy Act did not diminish victims' rights.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesman welcomed the decision.

The 2023 Legacy Act came from the previous Conservative government. It offered conditional immunity to perpetrators of some Troubles crimes if they cooperated with the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

The Labour government later introduced a new bill. Members of Parliament voted to repeal the conditional immunity provision.

Northern Ireland's High Court and the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal had ruled parts of the Act incompatible with human rights. They said it undermined victims' rights in breach of the Windsor Framework, signed after the UK left the EU.

In 2024, the Court of Appeal found the government had too much veto power over ICRIR disclosures to bereaved families.

Five Supreme Court judges disagreed. They said the Northern Ireland Secretary's power to block disclosures on national security grounds was not unrestrained or the final say.

The judges added: "The Secretary of State's powers do not mean that the Commission will lack independence in disclosing sensitive information to the next of kin, victims and the public."

The Northern Ireland Office took the case to the Supreme Court despite plans to change the law. It argued the Windsor Framework issue was constitutionally profound at a hearing last October.

In a unanimous 77-page ruling Thursday, the judges allowed the government's challenge.

The NIO statement said: "We welcome the clarity provided today by the Supreme Court, which has confirmed that the ICRIR is fully equipped to deliver human rights-compliant investigations, and reaffirms the Government's position on the interpretation and application of Article 2 of the Windsor Framework."

It continued: "Today's judgment also shows that the government was right to address the main flaw in the Legacy Act - namely conditional immunity. The scheme, which never came into force, was wrong in principle, lacked public confidence, and has been repeatedly rejected by the courts."

The statement noted: "While the question of immunity was not before the Supreme Court, the Court went out of its way to refute the main argument put forward for it. It is clear that the Troubles Bill is now the only viable way to generate confidence across communities, enable information sharing by the Irish authorities and put in place the necessary safeguards for our former service personnel."

Amnesty International condemned the ruling. It expressed deep concern over the government's veto on information disclosure.

Gráinne Teggart, Amnesty's Northern Ireland deputy director, said: "The decision to uphold the government's appeal is a bitter blow to victims and condemns them to further delays for the truth. The judgement must not be used by Government to give cover to a system which shields wrongdoing rather than exposing it."

TUV leader Jim Allister welcomed the ruling. He said it restrained the Windsor Framework's effect.

Allister added: "While it checks the absurd contention that rights in Northern Ireland should be those evolving in the EU, not of the UK, it does not curb the continuing and pernicious reach of the Protocol/Windsor Framework into the constitutional and economic operation of Northern Ireland as a part of the UK. Nor does it deliver us from the oppressive requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights, which must come on a UK wide basis under a future government."

The SDLP said any new legacy mechanism would see only partial participation and fail to command victims' confidence until issues were addressed.