Soldiers, not terrorists, will be Sinn Fein losers
Push to stop injustice for war widows
MINISTERS are facing a cross-party push to end the injustice of war widows being denied their husbands’ pensions because they remarried in later life.
The issue is to be raised in the Lords when Parliament returns next week amid growing anger at treatment of women who lost loved ones in service to their country.
Peers and MPS have got behind a Daily Express campaign to resolve the problem which has left widows thousands of pounds a year worse off.
According to thewar Widows Association up to 300 women lost their pension rights between 1973 and 2005 because they remarried.
The issue is set to be raised by Labour’s Baroness
Crawley and backed by peers from all parties.
She said: “We want no more tea and sympathy.
This needs sorting out now.”
A BOMBER Command veteran who flew 31 nerve-racking night-time missions over Germany and France in the Secondworld War has died aged 97.
Tributes have been paid to Arthur Atkinson’s “wonderful sense of humour” and “cheeky way with the ladies” after he died on Friday.
The keen musician and dancer, who was born in Lancaster, worked at his local Co-op until he
VETERANS of the Troubles will be used like pawns while former IRA terrorists can rest easy in the wake of Sinn Fein’s success in Ireland’s elections, leading campaigners say.
They are calling for a law to ensure the decision not to prosecute ex-army soldiers in Northern Ireland will be upheld.
Fears are high as Sinn Fein – who were historically linked to the provisional IRA – won the most first preference votes in Ireland’s general election.
It is fighting to form a government and already shares power in Northern Ireland after agreeing a deal with the unionist DUP.
Former Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, who co-founded the Veterans Support Group, says ex-soldiers will be targeted as the newly powerful
FORMER NORTHERN IRELAND SECRETARY party pushes for a referendum on Irish unification. He said: “It’s not right that people in their late old age – some of them very ill – who at the time were doing very dangerous, brave work to protect the rule of law, should be dragged into a contemporary political battle and used as pawns.
“New legislation must address this imbalance, in which elderly veterans who upheld the law are being pursued by interest groups
TERRORIST violence in Northern Ireland took a desperate toll on countless families. Up to 2006, 3,720 people were killed. Peace negotiations entailed tough decisions, including releasing prisoners only two years after conviction. New legislation must address the imbalance, in which elderly veterans who upheld the law are being pursued by interest groups while former terrorists rest easy. A Statute of Limitation would be a long-term solution, but an instant remedy would be to ensure that where the DPP or Government has previously issued “no prosecution” letters or taken a decision not to prosecute, that decision should be upheld absolutely except in cases of substantial new evidence. This is not currently the case.
while former terrorists rest easy.” He wants a 20-year statute of limitation introduced so “no new cases can be brought without compelling new evidence”.
Meanwhile, DUP MP Sammy Wilson had stark advice for any Irish party considering forming a coalition with Sinn Fein.
He said: “Just be careful who you get into bed with because the fleas that they have on them will soon be causing you an itch.”
He has “no doubts” that the Army Council of the IRA exerts influence over Sinn Fein and expects the party to “badger the British” to take a harder line on prosecutions.
He said: “One of the reasons why they insist on investigations of security forces is because they want to divert attention from their sordid sectarian campaign.”
Sinn Fein has been contacted for comment.