Reform UK has vowed to give British soldiers greater protection from prosecution, pledging to halt most criminal cases against serving and former troops unless the Defence Secretary gives explicit consent.
The party’s newly appointed Defence spokesman, Angus MacIntyre, said the party would, within 100 days of forming a Government, pardon veterans “convicted for simply carrying out orders, terminate ongoing prosecutions and bar further prosecutions of British soldiers.”
Laying out Reform’s proposals, Mr MacIntyre told MailOnline: “We see the utterly disgraceful treatment of our veterans who have found themselves prosecuted merely for doing their jobs.
“Ex-soldiers should not spend their retirement wondering whether the very country they swore to defend will stand by them. We will have their backs.”
However, senior military figures questioned the practicality of Reform’s plans.
Former army intelligence officer Philip Ingram said: “Opposition parties promise lots. I don’t believe there is a legal mechanism to achieve what they’re promising.”
Prominent veterans’ affairs campaigner Paul Young added: “We could not endorse those policies based on those wordings.
“The Defence Secretary is a politician rather than a legal person. We have advocated that a Supreme Court judge should decide whether cases proceed, based on the requirement for new, compelling and extraordinary evidence.
“We have never called for pardons, rather the prevention of repeated attempts to prosecute soldiers without legal justification. When someone has committed a crime, they should be subjected to the appropriate processes.”
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