Breach of Stormont House Agreement a retrograde step

Responding to UK government proposals to provide an amnesty to soldiers accused of crimes in Northern Ireland, Labour spokesperson Brendan Howlin said:

“Most people involved in building or advocating for peace on our island over the past 30 years will be dismayed at the recent developments in Northern Ireland.

“A unilateral decision made by the British government to breach the agreement, arrived in 2014 in the Stormont House talks is a totally retrograde step.

“Added to tensions and real difficulties that have followed in the wake of Brexit, it means that real tensions now exist between communities in Northern Ireland, a situation that we’d hoped we’d left behind us.

“For all of us now there is a new responsibility to resolve real difficulties and to work to ensure that agreements and institutions, painstakingly put in place, are fully worked to restore both calm and confidence for a peaceful future.

“While it is welcome that there will be a British Irish intergovernmental conference in June, as this will be the first one since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister the developments overnight show that much remains to be resolved.”