Sinn Fein will block Westminster plans to protect British veterans from being investigated for murders during the Troubles.
The UK government is planning to draft a bill that would exclude former British soldiers involved in killings in the North from being “unfairly treated or disproportionately investigated”.
The legislation would come under the terms of the Stormont House agreement and thus would go through the British parliament but then require the approval of Sinn Fein.
A party spokesman said that the proposal breached extant agreements. “It’s not just a matter of Sinn Fein being against it, this would run contrary to what was agreed at Fresh Start negotiations,” he said.
Earl Howe, a junior defence minister, told the House of Lords last week that the UK government was working to establish the bill. The Northern Ireland office confirmed to The Times that the legislation was being considered by James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland secretary, and the Ministry of Defence.
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Under the Stormont House agreement, which was brokered between Northern Irish political parties and the Irish and British governments in 2014, it was agreed that any such laws would progress through parliament but would need the support of the main parties in Stormont.
Last week Lord Blencathra, a Conservative peer, called for former soldiers to be treated with “fairness and respect”. Speaking in the House of Lords on Tuesday, he raised the case of two former British soldiers who are to be prosecuted for allegedly murdering an Official IRA commander in Northern Ireland
Joe McCann was shot dead aged 24 in disputed circumstances in Belfast on April 15, 1972. Soldier A, 67, and Soldier C, 65, are surviving members of the Parachute Regiment patrol which fired on him.
He also detailed the case of a veteran who was being investigated over the shooting of an “armed terrorist” more than 40 years ago.
“He received a certificate of appreciation from the general officer commanding Northern Ireland, but now that soldier has been questioned about committing possible murder about that attack, which happened in 1972,” Lord Blencathra said. The former marine lives in the Royal Chelsea Hospital in London, a nursing home and retirement home for veterans of the British army.
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“The soldier is aged 75 and is a Chelsea Pensioner. What in the name of God has happened to decency, justice, fairness and common sense when we are interrogating Chelsea Pensioners for doing their duty to this country?”
In response Lord Howe said that the Conservative government was hoping to introduce legislation to protect such veterans.
“I listened with great interest to Lord Blencathra on the Northern Ireland legacy issues and I can tell him . . . that the defence and Northern Ireland secretaries are working to create a Stormont House agreement bill that will ensure veterans are not unfairly treated or disproportionately investigated,” he said.