B

Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 October 2025

Debate

Northern Ireland Troubles

Contribution

I thank my noble friend for his questions, his work as Northern Ireland Secretary and his role in working with victims’ groups, including WAVE, with which he has a long-standing relationship. He is absolutely right about immunity, which was opposed by everyone. That is one of the reasons why it was in our manifesto; we are delivering on our manifesto commitment. Criminal investigation standards are what we are expect from the legacy commission. The other learning we take from Operation Kenova is that voices will be heard within the commission that are currently not. There will be victims’ voices, as well as those of veterans, whom I have spoken about, and other people affected, which we hope will guide the work of the legacy commission going forward. On the codirectors for investigation, we are also bringing forward a new governance structure to make sure that there are clear reporting lines and accountability for the legacy commission. There will be two roles for the codirectors: one for someone who has expertise and a history of investigations in Northern Ireland, and another for someone who has experience of investigations, but not in Northern Ireland. That means that we can make sure that, if there is a perceived conflict of interest, it is answered. I hope that will go some way to reassuring people who should be accessing the legacy commission for help.

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