‘Legacy Bill will finally provide answers for many Troubles families’

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The Government’s proposed legacy Bill “will finally provide answers” for many victims, survivors and families bereaved during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris has said. We must address the legacy of the past in a different way if we are to achieve better outcomes for many who have waited for decades Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris It would Victims’ groups, the main Stormont political parties and the Irish Government have all expressed their opposition to the Bill. “This Bill will finally provide answers.” Referring to changes made to the Bill by peers, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “We cannot agree to an amendment which would altogether remove the conditional immunity clauses from the Bill. He told the BBC: “One of the reasons that this Bill is coming forward, other than the need for reconciliation and trying to find a way to help everyone through legacy, is because it is so lopsided at the moment – we have let off most of the terrorists, you have had hundreds let out through the Good Friday Agreement, 365 royal pardons and letters of comfort, and many more reasons that make it really lopsided.” “I give it a guarded welcome because most veterans – and I have really made it my task to get out, talk to veterans and find out what they want – 90% of veterans don’t like what we have got at the minute, they want something different, and this offers something different.” But victims campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son was murdered by loyalists during the Troubles, said the vote in Parliament will establish whether the Government “believes in truth and justice”.