Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Empey has warned that the proposed Historical Inquiries Unit (HIU) will be a mechanism for hounding former members of the security forces for up to a decade.
Lord Empey disputed comments by Junior Minister Lord Younger of Leckie, that the Government wanted to draw a line under the past. Intervening on an urgent question relating to the prosecutions of former soldiers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, Lord Empey said:
“Far from drawing a line, this will initiate a hounding process. The HIU is a parallel police force set up as part of the Stormont House Agreement between the DUP and Sinn Fein and I wish to reiterate very clearly that it most emphatically does not have the support of the Ulster Unionist Party.”