See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy MARK NICOL, DEFENCE EDITOR Published: 00:12 BST, 13 June 2026 | Updated: 00:29 BST, 13 June 2026
Special Forces veterans on Friday night demanded Labour ditch legislation that persecutes troops who served in Northern Ireland, after Al Carns’ resignation.In his letter to the Prime Minister, the former Armed Forces Minister said the Legacy Bill would ‘fail veterans it claimed to protect’.Mr Carns’ remarks echoed the Mail’s ‘Stop the SAS Betrayal’ campaign which has fought valiantly to ensure elderly veterans are not hounded to their graves.Cashing in on a legal aid gravy train, Republican groups in the province are bringing decades-old cases against British troops back to criminal courts and inquests.They are seeking damages from the UK government, prosecutions of soldiers involved in incidents as far back as the 1970s and, according to senior officers, to rewrite history.Mr Carns revealed he had attempted in vain to convince former human rights lawyer Sir Keir Starmer and other government ministers to back British troops.He wrote: ‘I have worked to fix the Northern Ireland Legacy Bill from the inside. But it remains unfit for purpose. It risks failing the very veterans it claims to protect.‘Men and women I served with, those I buried friends alongside, people who did their duty under conditions most individuals in Westminster will never have to imagine. Family members hold pictures of the victims of Bloody Sunday during Soldier F's trial last year before the ex-paratrooper was found not guilty‘I set out the changes I believed were necessary. I have run out of room to argue this case honourably. We owe soldiers the loyalty to stand by them.’He told GB News on Friday: ‘We don’t drag our veterans back to court. And importantly, we don’t rewrite history. Ninety per cent of all the casualties in Northern Ireland were caused by who? By terrorists.’Last night, the Special Air Service Regimental Association (SASRA) said: ‘Al Carns’ letter reveals the government’s approach is fundamentally flawed.‘His principled departure sends a welcome message but leaves our members vulnerable to endless, vexatious litigation triggered by apologists for terrorists.‘The legislation must not be allowed to proceed.’
