Government Deny National Probe into Birmingham Pub Explosions

Authorities have rejected the idea of launching a national inquiry into the Provisional IRA's 1974-era Birmingham bar attacks.

This Horrific Event

Back on 21 November 1974, 21 civilians were murdered and 220 hurt when explosive devices were exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town pub venues in Birmingham, in an assault commonly accepted to have been orchestrated by the Provisional IRA.

Judicial Fallout

Not a single person has been sentenced for the attacks. Back in 1991, 6 men had their guilty verdicts quashed after spending over 16 years in detention in what remains one of the most severe failures of justice in British history.

Victims' Families Push for Justice

Relatives have long pushed for a open inquiry into the bombings to find out what the authorities was aware of at the time of the incident and why no one has been brought to justice.

Government Decision

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, said on recently that while he had sincere compassion for the families, the cabinet had determined “after detailed deliberation” it would not authorize an investigation.

Jarvis stated the administration thinks the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, created to look into deaths related to the Northern Ireland conflict, could investigate the Birmingham incidents.

Activists React

Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was murdered in the bombings, said the decision showed “the government don't care”.

The sixty-two-year-old has for years pushed for a open probe and explained she and other grieving families had “no intention” of taking part in the new body.

“There’s no true autonomy in the commission,” she stated, adding it was “like them grading their own performance”.

Requests for Evidence Disclosure

For years, bereaved families have been calling for the disclosure of files from government bodies on the attack – especially on what the authorities knew prior to and following the incident, and what proof there is that could lead to legal action.

“The whole UK government system is against our relatives from ever learning the reality,” she said. “Exclusively a official judicial national investigation will give us entry to the files they assert they do not possess.”

Legal Authority

A statutory national inquiry has specific legal powers, including the authority to require witnesses to testify and reveal information related to the probe.

Prior Hearing

An hearing in 2019 – fought for grieving relatives – determined the victims were illegally slain by the IRA but did not establish the names of those culpable.

Hambleton commented: “Government bodies advised the then coroner that they have zero files or information on what is still England’s most prolonged unsolved atrocity of the last century, but now they intend to force us down the route of this new commission to provide information that they claim has never existed”.

Official Reaction

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for Hodge Hill and Solihull North, described the administration's ruling as “deeply, deeply disappointing”.

In a statement on Twitter, Byrne wrote: “After so much time, so much pain, and so many failures” the families merit a mechanism that is “autonomous, judge-led, with comprehensive powers and fearless in the quest for the reality.”

Continuing Sorrow

Discussing the family’s persistent grief, Hambleton, who leads the Justice 4 the 21, said: “Not a single family of any horror of any kind will ever have closure. It is unattainable. The grief and the sorrow persist.”