The government is playing politics with our armed forces – and looking to embarrass Labour

A bill to curb ‘vexatious’ court cases against soldiers is being used to paint Keir Starmer as unpatriotic– and it succeeded in forcing three MPs to resign, writes John Rentoul

Keir Starmer claims Labour is the patriotic party in his online speech in Doncaster on Tuesday (Reuters)

The Overseas Operations Bill is a feeble piece of legislation. It doesn’t do what the government claims, which is to stop “vexatious” claims against British troops over historical allegations. So the government is trying to use it instead to embarrass Keir Starmer and to paint him as unpatriotic. 

The bill was first debated in parliament on Wednesday, and John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, pointed out that it does not actually deal with the injustices that most animate Conservative MPs. It does not cover Northern Ireland – admittedly the clue is in the word “overseas” – but nor does it cover allegations about past actions. All it does is make it slightly harder to bring cases alleging abuse or torture against British troops operating abroad in future. 

That means it will have no effect on cases brought against people who served in Northern Ireland, where the immunity granted to some as part of the Good Friday Agreement is such a sore point with some former soldiers and their defenders in parliament. And it means it will do nothing to prevent lawyers bringing repeated and overlapping cases against troops posted to Iraq and Afghanistan, where combat operations ceased long ago.