Starmer vows to prevent Gerry Adams from receiving compensation
PM says he aims to stop former Sinn Féin leader claiming damages for his internment as ministers ditch Troubles law.
Ministers will look at “every conceivable way” to prevent Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Féin president, being able to receive compensation under government plans to ditch controversial laws dealing with the Troubles period, Keir Starmer has told MPs.
Asked during prime minister’s questions about claims that Adams and 400 others interned during the Northern Ireland Troubles could get compensation from the British government, 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.
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 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”, 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.”
His official spokesperson later said: “We’re looking at every conceivable option to make sure payments don’t take place.”
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, declined to say if Adams would be entitled to compensation.
He told BBC Radio 4: “The government inherited a scheme from the Conservative party that didn’t have the support of anybody in Northern Ireland, that was found in many cases to be unlawful, and which actually, under the Conservative scheme, gave immunity to people who committed appalling acts of terrorism.”
Jones added that the Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, was working with parties in Northern Ireland and would “report to parliament in due course”.
Caine said the Labour move was “inexplicable” as the party had “never opposed the amendment” to the Legacy Act addressing compensation.
“They have made a political decision,” he said.
A number of peers including Ken McDonald, a former director of public prosecutions, the shadow attorney general, David Wolfson, and the Northern Ireland historian Paul Bew have backed a thinktank paper by Policy Exchange criticising the Labour move.
It says it does not progress “the cause of reconciliation in Northern Ireland to leave open the possibility of meritless litigation”.
Lord Wolfson said the government’s claims that the repeal signalled a commitment to the Human Rights Act “makes no sense and warrants the sharp criticism that this paper ably provides”.
The Legacy Act was opposed by the unionist parties, Sinn Féin, the Irish government and the US government and Labour made a commitment to replace it when it came to power.
Unionist parties in Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office have been approached for comment.
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