Fury as amnesty for Ulster troops dropped – to allow for cat litter law

THE Prime Minister has come under fire for dropping a planned amnesty for British soldiers from the Queen’s Speech in favour of laws on ‘sustainable cat litter’.

Boris Johnson had vowed to end the witch-hunt of soldiers facing historic allegations during the Northern Ireland Troubles as well as in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But a new law to protect veterans from prosecution has reportedly been removed from tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech.

Yesterday, Lord Dannatt, a former Chief of the General Staff, said it was unacceptable that serving and former soldiers ran the risk of prosecution for operations in Northern Ireland and other conflicts.

And he said he was disappointed at reports the proposed new law had been ditched by the Government.

Mr Johnson had reportedly wanted to include the proposal but was persuaded not to by policy advisers and officials in the Northern Ireland Office.

The new law would have had a presumption against prosecution for current or former personnel for alleged offences committed in the course of duty abroad more than ten years ago.

And it would have required compelling new evidence to reopen old cases, and state that historic prosecutions are not in the public interest unless in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

But a Whitehall source told the Daily Telegraph: ‘You’ll find more about sustainable cat litter in the Queen’s Speech than you will about veterans.’

Senior military leaders and more than 150 MPs and peers had campaigned for the amnesty.

Up to 200 former military personnel are under investigation for alleged offences during the Troubles.