Mr Mercer, who is still a Member of Parliament, left his ministerial post in April after being frustrated by the lack of progress on legislation to protect British veterans who served during the unrest from prosecution. He called Mr Lewis “desperate” after the failure of the case against “Soldier F”, for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972. Reacting to the news when it emerged On Friday, Mr Mercer said the prosecution attempts “never should have gone this far.”
Mr Lewis had previously pledged to introduce legislation to protect soldiers from such “legacy lawsuits” before the summer recess.
But Mr. Mercer, told Times Radio: “I have no faith in the secretary of Northern Ireland. He is completely desperate on this question of inheritance. He has been promising solutions on this for some time and basically forced me out of government because we could not meet our commitments to veterans.
“So I have no faith in the actors who are currently operating in this space.”
Earlier he told the BBC he felt sorry for the families of the Bloody Sunday victims, but that “the reality is that we have to come to some hard truths about this time in Northern Ireland”.
He added, “Justice, and what that justice really looks like, is going to be very, very difficult to achieve now.
“My point of view has always been that I don’t want the lives of veterans to be ruined and endlessly studied and exposed, trying to come up with a truth that I think is almost impossible to reach now, 50 years later. .
“I don’t think continuing to stir up the kind of hatred I see today is ever going to lead to peace and reconciliation.”
Mr Mercer, a former army officer, has repeatedly criticized the government for its handling of “Heritage issues” in Northern Ireland.
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This notice was published: 2021-07-04 10:36:26
