Keir Starmer has vowed to defend Gerry Adams from seeking compensation.

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The UK government is looking to find a legal way to prevent former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams from paying reparations after he was jailed during the 1970s crisis in Northern Ireland.

Sir Keir Starmer told the House of Commons on Wednesday that Adams and hundreds of others who intervened in the period “will look at every possible way to prevent these types of harm.”

The opposition Conservatives plan to repeal the provisions of the Legacy Act, which opens the door to paying compensation to “terrorists” on the government’s plan. 16 peers criticize Labor’s proposal A piece of paper Published by the think-tank Policy Exchange on Wednesday.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn launched the overhaul of the previous Conservative administration last month. old law, It has been rejected by regional political parties, victims, rights groups and the Irish government.

Benn said Sections 46 and 47 of the Act – which deal with orders for the detention of Adams and others, or detention without trial – should be struck down as unconstitutional by the courts.

But the policy exchange’s staff has not previously opposed the provisions and said such compensation payments are “a very poor use of public funds at a time of national economic crisis”.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described such a prospect as “disgraceful”.

Tory MP Julian Smith, a former Northern Ireland secretary, urged Ben to “return to his old party position that we should freeze compensation payments to terrorists”.

Adams He led the republican party, Sinn Féin, during his time as IRA Speaker, through three decades of trouble involving republican paramilitaries, UK loyalists and British security forces within the IRA. He always denied being in the IRA himself.

Adams criticized Starmer’s comments. “No one should be surprised when the British government wants to protect legal and human rights,” he said.

He said the Supreme Court decision in 2020 was “clear”.

“Temporary protection orders are unauthorized and are illegal by the Secretary of State. The British government also accepted this. It is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But he added that there would “definitely” be more legal challenges as the law changes.

It comes a day after Adams, 76, was due to go on trial in England next year as part of civil actions seeking symbolic £1 damages for being a victim of an IRA bombing and claiming he was a man.

A government official termed the negotiations under Sections 46 and 47 as “sham” and the law repeals these public acts with questions. Labor promised to return them.

Scheduled to start on 9 March 2026, Adams’ legal team will be led by UK Attorney General Richard Hermer.

In 2020, the dispute over damages arose after Adams successfully appealed convictions for attempting to escape from probation in 1973 and 1974.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Interim Protection Order (ICO) used to arrest him was invalid because it had not been signed by then Secretary of State Willie Whitelaw. Around 300-400 people are believed to be in the same situation.

However, the former Northern Ireland minister, Lord Kane, told BBC Radio Ulster that the practice of allowing junior ministers or very senior officials to sign such orders ended in 2015. According to the Carlton doctrine of the 1940s.

“On the other hand, it’s not about Gerry Adams, it’s about returning to legal clarity and restoring what is well-established in government and constitutional practices,” he said.

Starmer defended his plan to repeal the Legacy Act as “unqualified”, saying at least “it would give hundreds of terrorists impunity. . . . We’re going to put a better framework in place.”