SAS veterans warn Government is risking Britain’s special forces capability over Troubles 'witch hunts'

The association representing SAS veterans has threatened the Government with a “robust legal challenge” unless ministers overhaul controversial legislation dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.

Speaking to LBC, the Special Air Service Regimental Association said it was prepared to “do whatever it takes” to protect former soldiers from what it described as the “manifestly unfair treatment” inflicted on veterans by Northern Ireland legacy investigations.

The intervention comes as a major new Policy Exchange report warns that soldiers who served against the IRA are being judged decades later against human rights standards which developed after many of the incidents being examined took place.

The report, The Special Air Service in Northern Ireland – What they did, why it matters, and what is being done to them now, draws on interviews with more than a dozen SAS veterans who served during Operation Banner and examines both the legal framework under which they operated and the subsequent development of human rights law.

The SAS Regimental Association told LBC: “The Special Air Service Regimental Association welcomes the Policy Exchange report which details the complexities of Legacy, the context of operations and the role of the SAS saving lives against the current legal backdrop, and the extent to which the Troubles Bill is unfit for purpose.

“We have set out detailed proposals to the Government to protect our veterans.

“We require that no proceedings should be allowed without compelling new evidence, key decisions must be taken outside Northern Ireland and there must be effective independent oversight that stops the mistreatment of veterans.

“The Bill should also subsume the provisions of the Remedial Order.”

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In its starkest warning yet to ministers, the association added: “We are determined to do whatever it takes to protect our men and women from the manifestly unfair treatment to which they have been subjected by Northern Ireland legacy processes, which blights their lives and those of their families.

“As previously stated, we will defend our members and our interests with a robust legal challenge should the Government not change course.”

The comments significantly raise the stakes in an increasingly bitter row between ministers and some of Britain’s most senior military veterans over Labour’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill.

The legislation is currently awaiting further consideration at committee stage in the House of Commons after being carried over into the current parliamentary session.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said during a visit to Belfast last week that the Government intended to bring the legislation back before Parliament in the autumn, saying families, veterans and others were still seeking answers about events during the Troubles. Downing Street has also confirmed the Prime Minister’s backing for the work to bring the Bill back before MPs.

LBC has previously reported that special forces veterans’ associations took the extraordinary step of writing to every MP in the country to raise concerns about the legislation and its potential impact on those who served.

The Policy Exchange report has also won backing from Al Carns, the former Armed Forces minister and Royal Marine who served for 24 years.

Writing in its foreword, Mr Carns warned: “No soldier should be above the law. Equally, no soldier should face endless legal jeopardy.

“Accountability is not the same as perpetual investigation. Justice is not served when the process itself becomes the punishment.

“That is why this paper matters. It gives voice to men who were there, making decisions almost impossible to recreate 40 or 50 years later.”

The report argues that SAS soldiers deployed in Northern Ireland operated in support of the police and under ordinary criminal law, with troops trained on the rules governing the use of force.

Its authors argue that legal obligations which developed subsequently, particularly around Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, have effectively been applied retrospectively and helped drive repeated investigations into incidents which took place decades ago.

Mr Carns said genuinely new and compelling evidence should still be investigated, but argued veterans should not be subjected to repeated investigations into the same events simply because legal standards or investigative processes have subsequently changed.

Labour peer Lord Maurice Glasman has also backed the report, warning that pursuing elderly veterans could have consequences far beyond the individual soldiers involved.

“We owe a debt of great gratitude to the veterans of the SAS who served in the long deployment in Northern Ireland,” he wrote.

“They served with great courage and honour in extremely dangerous and violent conditions.

“It is a breach of our military covenant that veterans are investigated and prosecuted in their old age because of an understanding of the law that did not exist when they were active.”

The row has now spilled into concerns about the future effectiveness of Britain’s special forces.

Brigadier Ed Butler, president of the SAS Regimental Association and a former commanding officer of 22 SAS, has warned that repeated legal action against soldiers is already affecting recruitment into the elite regiment.

He said some troops were being deterred from attempting SAS selection because of fears that decisions made during operations could leave them facing investigations years or even decades later.

“The very worst case scenario is you have a completely whittled-down special forces capability,” Brig Butler said.

“Because no one would be prepared to join it and do these high-risk, high-return operations if their back isn’t covered.”

He added: “I think there’s a serious question about the trust between the state and its Armed Forces and quite how far that is being breached.

“Has the Government got the special forces and SAS communities’ backs? I think it’s very questionable.”

The association has previously raised its concerns directly with ministers. In January, then Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn told MPs he had met the SAS Regimental Association and said the Government was listening to its concerns about the Bill.

The row centres on Labour’s attempt to replace significant parts of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.

That legislation, passed under the previous Conservative government, created the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery and offered conditional immunity from prosecution for some Troubles-related offences in return for co-operation.

Labour opposed the immunity provisions and its replacement legislation would substantially reshape the system governing investigations, inquests and other legacy cases.

Critics fear those changes could reopen investigations into veterans who were already scrutinised over incidents during the Troubles, while the Government argues the previous system left both veterans and more than 1,000 bereaved families without answers.

A Government spokesperson said: “We are immensely proud of our armed forces, and all those who served to protect life and defeat terrorism during the Troubles.

“There is no question of needless repeat investigations or of any veteran being prosecuted for having followed the rules.

“The Legacy Act offered immunity to IRA, UVF and other terrorists, responsible for the overwhelming majority of Troubles-related deaths.

“It left our veterans exposed. And it left over 1,000 families of murdered UK civilians and soldiers without answers.

“The Troubles Bill aims to fix that broken system, with the reformed Legacy Commission becoming the primary route for families to get the answers they are entitled to.

“There was no equivalence between the lawful service of our veterans and the sickening deliberate actions of the terrorists.

“We will make that clear in the Bill, and introduce a package of new, effective and lawful protections for our former service personnel.”