On 5th April 1979, a young man called Tony Dykes was shot dead by an IRA sniper. Tony was from Harworth.
His mum, Kathleen, now in her 90s, has lived with the pain for more than 40 years and she has never stopped fighting for a national memorial for all of those killed in Northern Ireland.
Yes, the names of those who fell in the course of duty are listed at the National Memorial Arboretum. But there is no dedicated memorial for members of the armed forces who died during the Troubles, unlike every other major conflict.
I back Kathleen’s campaign but more importantly, I would like to see justice served and the terrorist who took her son’s life face the full force of the law and be prosecuted and punished.
I have looked carefully at the Northern Ireland Legacy Act and the immunity system lets every terrorist off scot free across the UK. Even our own courts now say the law cannot stand. It shut down investigations into Troubles deaths, including of over 200 Armed Forces members killed by terrorists.
In Bassetlaw, I have spoken to many veterans and I know a large number served in Northern Ireland. They witnessed horrors that still haunt them and have scarred them for life. They were loyal to our late Queen and to their country, they followed the orders of their superiors and they followed the Green Card rules.
I want justice served for people like Tony and his mum and I have come to the conclusion that this Government has no choice but to put this right.
The Government has put forward a new Troubles Bill in Parliament that includes strong safeguards for veterans including protection from repeated investigations, protection in old age, protection from cold calling, and there will be no requirement to travel to Northern Ireland.
The new law will also give new powers to the legacy commission to open investigations into unsolved IRA terrorists attacks on English soil, such as the 1996 Manchester bombing. The families deserve justice.
If any constituent in Bassetlaw be called on to give evidence in a hearing, my role will be to support them in every way that I can. In the last 13 years, one former soldier out of 250,000 who served has been convicted, and he received a suspended sentence. The chances of any Bassetlaw veteran being called to give evidence is extremely small.
There must be no rewriting of history. There is no comparison between those who served to protect life in our Armed Forces and security services, and the IRA and other terrorist organisations which set out to kill people, and which were responsible for 90 per cent of Troubles deaths.