No amnesty for IRA, says PM as Williamson aims to end ‘vendetta’ against troops

THERESA MAY has rebuked Gavin Williamson after he suggested he would be willing to accept an amnesty for IRA terrorists to stop British troops being hounded.

The Defence Secretary wrote to the Prime Minister urging her to create a “statute of limitations” for offences during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, in the wake of new plans to examine criminal cases.

He told Mrs May that British soldiers who served in the region from the Seventies to the Nineties should have the “protection they deserve”, adding: “If this means a wider amnesty, so be it.”

The Telegraph also understands that in a second letter the Defence Secretary asked Mrs May to consider broadening out the proposal to include the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

However, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Friday: “We cannot countenance a proposal where amnesties would be provided to terrorists.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the bravery of the soldiers and police officers who upheld the rule of law and

‘There is a de facto amnesty for terrorists already. It is time to give our veterans the protection they deserve’

are accountable to it.”

In May, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Karen Bradley, sparked a political row by unveiling a consultation on the toxic legacy of the Troubles which did not include an amnesty for members of the security forces.

She insisted there was “no support” in the region for a “Northern Irelandonly statute of limitations”, as she launched a public consultation on other proposals to address unresolved issues from the past.

In the letter reported by The Sun, Mr Williamson argued that such a statute was needed.

He wrote: “If this means a wider amnesty, so be it: in the public mind, the effect of the Good Friday Agreement sentencing reforms, the ‘On the Run’ letters which inadvertently led to the failure of the prosecution of John Downey for the 1982 Hyde Park bombings, and the apparent disproportionate focus of the current investigation on security forces amount to a de facto amnesty for terrorists already.

“It is time to give our veterans the protection they deserve.”

On Friday Mr Williamson tweeted: “I’m prepared to go to any lengths to stop this ridiculous vendetta against former service personnel.”