Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA has said the Birmingham Bombing victims deserve truth. The Manchester Arena victims got answers through a public inquiry therefore why are those from Birmingham denied the same justice? Labour’s refusal to act shows weakness on terrorism and a failure to stand up for victims.

Doug Beattie MC MLA said, “The Manchester Arena Bombing in 2017 was an appalling atrocity that led to a Public Inquiry, which gave its findings in 2023. Lessons learned, victims given the truth, perpetrators known, and in the case of Hashem Abedi, jailed.  A fair response by the government at the time, with questions still to be asked and answered.

“So, following this logic, why has the present Labour Party decided that the 21 people murdered in the Birmingham Bombings, along with over 200 injured on 21 November 1974, don’t deserve an inquiry? Where does this moral difference come from? Is it due to time, maybe the lack of any new information, or do they have no suspects? The reality is it’s because the present Labour government is weak on terrorism past and present, is not willing to challenge those who directed terrorism, and is afraid to hold individuals to account because it might lead in a direction that they cannot control.

“We already know that individuals in the Irish Republic who have admitted openly to knowing information about who was responsible for the Birmingham Bombing. Kieran Conway, a senior IRA intelligence officer, wrote about it in his book ‘South of the Border’ in 2014. Nobody has questioned him about it in the same way nobody has questioned Michael Hayes, a self-confessed bomb maker who supplied the bombs for the Birmingham Active Service Unit (ASU), even though I raised it with West Midlands Police and the PSNI back in 2017. Other members of the ASU, all from the Irish Republic, were named during the 2019 inquest, and again none have been questioned.

“This game the UK Government is playing in allowing the Irish Government to dictate what they can or cannot do on legacy means many victims are losing confidence in them. I’m disappointed in our Security Minister Dan Javis, who has not put UK interests before all others. He loudly supported an inquiry for the Manchester Arena Bombing and rightly so, but when it comes to challenging the IRA and those who harboured them in the Irish Republic, he has gone squeamish. The Birmingham Bombing victims deserve better, and it is clear this Labour government is not intent on delivering for them.”