Keir Starmer has insisted he will examine ‘every conceivable way’ to stop Troubles internees such as Gerry Adams from getting compensation.
Sir Keir was grilled on the prospect of the former Sinn Fein leader receiving a payout during PMQs.
The previous Tory government had legislated to block such claims for unlawful detention.
But the Labour government is planning to repeal the Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 after the Belfast High Court ruled it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Conservative Kemi Badenoch said in the Commons it was ‘shameful’ Sir Keir is proposing to ‘write a cheque to compensate Gerry Adams’.
Sir Keir replied: ‘That Act was unfit not least because it gave immunity to hundreds of terrorists and wasn’t supported by victims in Northern Ireland, nor I believe by any of the political parties in Northern Ireland.
Keir Starmer was grilled on the prospect of the former Sinn Fein leader receiving a payout during PMQs
Critics say the law change paves the way for Gerry Adams to receive tens of thousands of pounds in compensation for alleged unlawful detention
Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness attend the funeral of Patrick Kelly, the reputed IRA commander in East Tyrone, in May 1987
‘The court found it unlawful. We will put in place a better framework, we’re working on a draft remedial order and replacement legislation, and we will look at every conceivable way to prevent these types of cases claiming damages.
‘It’s important I say that on the record.’
Outside the chamber, Downing Street refused to guarantee that compensation will be blocked.
There is no obligation for ministers to follow the Belfast court’s ruling but they have decided to without challenging it. Northern Ireland’s High Court delivered its ruling last February.
It could open the door for Mr Adams, who has always denied being a member of the IRA, and hundreds of other former suspected terrorists to lodge taxpayer-funded compensation claims.
Sixteen peers – several of them former judges and top lawyers – last night criticised ministers as part of a report opposing the move drawn up by the Policy Exchange think tank.
In a foreword to the report, they branded the Government’s move ‘wholly inappropriate’ and said that paying compensation would be a ‘very poor use of scarce public funds in a time of national economic crisis’.
They added: ‘We strongly support Policy Exchange’s critique of the [Northern Ireland] High Court’s judgment and the Government’s response to it and call on the Government now to reconsider.’
Lord Wolfson KC, the Shadow Attorney General, said the Government’s pledge to press ahead because of its ‘absolute commitment’ to human rights ‘makes no sense’.
Professor Richard Ekins KC, a law professor at the University of Oxford, said: ‘The Government has wrongly taken the say-so of a single High Court judge in Northern Ireland to justify reversing recently enacted and entirely reasonable legislation.
‘The Government’s decision to change the law is inexplicable and unjustifiable.
‘It will reopen the door to a wave of meritless litigation in relation to events of over 50 years ago, which may result in hundreds of people who were lawfully detained then for suspected involvement in terrorism now being paid compensation, which is an unjust and wasteful use of public money.’
Experts said that Mr Adams could get tens of thousands of pounds if the new legislation, tabled by ministers last month, passes.
If hundreds of others also lodge claims, it raises the prospect of the compensation bill reaching tens of millions of pounds.
Mr Adams was twice detained without trial during the Troubles, a practice introduced by UK ministers in Northern Ireland in a bid to contain spiralling violence in the early 1970s.
He was interned under article 4 of the Detention of Terrorists (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, which covered anyone ‘suspected of having been concerned in the commission or attempted commission of any act of terrorism’.
More than 1,900 people suspected of being members of paramilitary or terror groups such as the IRA were detained under the powers.
In 2020, the UK Supreme Court agreed that Mr Adams and others were unlawfully detained.
An picture of Gerry Adams (centre) in Belfast in 1973, acting as a member of the IRA guard of honour at the funeral of a member who was killed whilst planting a bomb
Mr Adams was detained at the Maze high-security jail near Belfast, also known as Long Kesh internment camp
Gerry Adams was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018
But this conclusion was reached on a technicality, which was that then Northern Ireland Secretary Willie Whitelaw had not personally signed the interim custody order.
Tory ministers rejected the ruling before passing the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which under sections 46 and 47 blocked Mr Adams and hundreds of others from lodging claims.
But Labour has tabled secondary legislation which would repeal these sections.
It is likely to pass the Commons because the party has a huge majority.
But it could run into trouble in the Lords, where the Tories have a majority.
Other peers which backed the Policy Exchange report included former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler of Brockwell, ex-Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice Lord Etherton KC and former Home Secretary Lord Howard of Lympne.
Lord Macdonald of River Glaven KC, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Margaret Thatcher’s ex-Private Secretary, Lord Powell of Bayswater, also signed it.
The Northern Department, which has tabled the legislation, was contacted for comment.
Ministers tabled a Remedial Order, secondary legislation which gives Parliament 60 days to consider it before becoming law, unless it is voted down.
