
Candidate for Tory Party leader Jeremy Hunt has been asked to clarify his statements after saying that Northern Ireland veterans and IRA terrorists should be treated “in the same way”.
The prospective future prime minister made the comments during a leadership hustings on Wednesday. Saying that whilst investigating deaths that occurred during The Troubles was a “difficult issue”, Mr Hunt remarked: “The main thing and I want to be honest about this, you know, the peace in Northern Ireland was hard won and under the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement, there is a need to treat both sides in the same way, however angry we may have felt about what happened.”
His comments come after outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May was accused of “betraying” Northern Ireland veterans, after a memo from the leader revealed by The Telegraph last month exposed that she had personally intervened to stop a new law that could have protected veterans of the UK’s armed forces from prosecution. The memo had said that British veterans should be given “equal, rather than preferential, treatment” relative to others involved in the consultation, which could include IRA terrorists.
The Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said Mr Hunt’s comments were “nonsense”.
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