Mercer: Government 'Making Progress' To End Repeated Historical Investigations

The Government is "making progress" in its attempts to end repeated investigations of soldiers facing historical abuse allegations, according to defence minister Johnny Mercer. 

The Minister for Defence People and Veterans said the Government is working on legislation "every single day".

Mr Mercer, a former Army officer, told Forces News he is confident the repeated historical investigations will come to an end.

"We are making progress on this issue, every day I work on this issue," Mr Mercer said.

"Only this week I had a meeting with the Attorney General, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, the Defence Secretary of State - that is one stream of work. 

"There's another stream of work that's going on around the enhanced legal protections that [former] Secretary of State Penny Mordaunt brought in - the consultation on that actually closed this week.

"We'll be gathering those responses and looking to bring a bill forward in January/February of next year."

In May, Ms Mordaunt announced plans for legislation to provide service personnel with stronger protection from repeated investigations into historical allegations of abuse during the overseas conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under Ms Morduant's proposals, there would be a "presumption against prosecution" in relation to alleged incidents dating back more than 10 years unless there were "exceptional circumstances".

The proposed legislation did not cover tours of Northern Ireland. 

During the Tory leadership campaign, Boris Johnson pledged to end the pursuit of soldiers over historical allegations.

On Monday, the Prime Minister announced legislation was being brought forward.

Mr Mercer told Forces News: "The Prime Minister has given us a very clear destination to get to - of ending the repeated and vexatious prosecutions, without any new evidence against our servicemen and women.

"And we will get there." 

Mr Mercer, who was appointed as a defence minister in August, jointly oversees the newly-formed Office of Veterans' Affairs.

On Wednesday, it was announced that retired Army Colonel David Richmond will head up the Office which aims to improve veterans' services.