Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)

That is absolutely not the Government’s position. The Government’s position is clear, and the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister have been clear: we will find a lawful way to move forward. We are still consulting with lawyers on what that should be. As a lawyer, the noble Lord will know that that is not something that can be done overnight. The Clonoe inquest was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, and the noble Lord, Lord Morrow. I very much appreciate the sensitivities of this inquest and its findings, as well as the anger that they have caused. The Government will come back in due course, as they are currently considering the details of the inquest. We have discussed veterans and immunity provisions before. My position has not changed. This Government will do everything we can to support those who served—those who ran towards the fire and put themselves between terrorists and civilians in order to keep people safe. I want to touch on the speech from the noble Lord, Lord Robathan. Unusually, I find myself agreeing with much of what he said—it had to happen once— including that people in uniform must operate within the law and that the overwhelming majority of those in Northern Ireland did exactly that. We owe them a debt of gratitude; I am grateful for their service. We will continue to work with them and with veterans groups to make sure that, as and when any support or legal advice is required, we are there with them. The Policy Exchange funding was raised by several noble Lords. This Government do not recognise the basis of the figures for any future costs in this report; they are entirely speculative. The figures include estimates based on policies that are yet to be determined. Therefore, they are highly speculative—I make no comment to the noble Lord, Lord Godson. To touch on the future costs, obviously that will form part of our debate when we bring forward primary legislation. There were comments this evening about the role of the Attorney-General. I want to be very clear and remind noble Lords that, due to precedent, neither we nor he can comment on the specifics of which cases he advised on, and noble Lords would not expect me to do so.