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Northern Ireland

My Lords, so great is the relief at the withdrawal of the Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill that it may have been overlooked that the Government have disguised the enormity of their action in withdrawing that odious Bill by somehow implying a denigration of MLAs. The two issues should not have been confused in the Statement. The MLAs are the electorate’s contact with what passes for democracy in Northern Ireland—a great deal more so than those who are in the Northern Ireland Office. I listened to the Secretary of State respond to questions in another place, and I am more than perplexed by his suggestion that the withdrawal of the Bill leaves members of the security forces vulnerable—that there is now no ““off the hook”” facility for members of the security forces. As a serving officer for many years, I was circumscribed by rules; if I had ever broken them, I should have been unworthy of my commission and would have expected to be punished. But I want to know that genuine mistakes made by soldiers and police officers in the heat of a fire fight or contact over more than 20 years from 1970 to 1994 will not be made answerable in the context of the normal circumstances that largely exist today. Can the Minister reassure me on that point?