Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation

Sorcha Eastwood Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sorcha Eastwood (Lagan Valley) (Alliance)]

I welcome this move today by the Government, and I welcome the removal of the word “reconciliation”.

There is a lot that I would like to say about this matter, but we are short of time so I will just get to the point. I have heard some remarks today that are incredibly disturbing and distressing. I do not want to pick on anybody, but the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) said—he will forgive me if I misrepresent him—“If the price of giving veterans an amnesty is that terrorists get the same, well then that is a price I am willing to pay.” Well, that is a price that I and the people of Lagan Valley, and the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland, are simply not willing to pay.

We have had a conversation today about, “Oh, we all agree there is no moral equivalence.” Fair enough, but I do not know what on earth moral equivalence is unless it is a situation where terrorists and people who wore uniform are both given a carve-out from the rule of law. And by the way, none of us gets to speak for veterans en masse. I have veterans in my own house. I am proud of them. And do you know what? They never asked for immunity.

I agree with my colleagues from Northern Ireland whenever they say that there is a wholesale rewriting of history—absolutely, there is; it is already in progress—but I would simply ask them to stop, pause and think. There is a rewriting of history already going on, and there are those who are not present in this House today who will say, “See, told you so: they all needed a get-out-jail-free card, because we can’t guarantee that every single person who served in Northern Ireland did so honourably and lawfully.” Think what that will give them. I do not want that to happen—I do not want that to happen. And where there was wrongdoing, where there is a list of cases, some of the people who I know who served in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the UDR and the regular Army will be the first to say, “Where there is wrongdoing, let us put it right, because we do not want that to besmirch our reputation.”

Lastly, we are, arguably, already in a hybrid war and we are potentially considering future deployments. I do not want anybody representing the UK overseas to have this hanging over them. I am proud to be Northern Irish. I am proud to be British. I am also proud to be Irish. But most of all, I am proud to say that we should be able to stand by the rule of law, wherever we are deployed. We should not lower our standards because we worry about the standards of terrorists and the evidence available to them. We should maintain our rule of law. I will be supporting this order today.