Rishi Sunak declines chance to apologise over Operation Kenova report on Scappaticci (Stakeknife)

Foyle MP Colum Eastwood invited Mr. Sunak to issue an apology in the British House of Commons this afternoon.

“The recently published Kenova report makes it absolutely clear that the IRA was riddled with British agents from top to bottom. Those agents were involved in abduction, torture and murder of British and Irish citizens.

"The British government, successive British governments, knew all about it and did nothing.

“The report also calls for an apology from the government to those victims. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity now to make that apology?” he asked.

The SDLP leader was referring to the wide-ranging interim report on the activities of Freddie Scappaticci, who was both a senior member of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit (ISU) and an army agent codenamed Stakeknife.

Mr. Sunak declined the opportunity to issue an apology as this stage and instead praised the ‘overwhelming majority’ of members of the security services for their service during the Troubles.

“This is an interim report and as the Secretary of State [Chris Heaton-Harris] has laid out we can't comment on the findings until we get the final report but we would never condone wrongdoing where there is evidence of this.

“But I will say this also because it is not said enough: the overwhelming majority of the police, armed forces and intelligence services served with great distinction.

"They defended democracy in the face of some horrendous violence and without their service and their sacrifice there would have been no peace process. They helped ensure that the future of Northern Ireland will never be decided by violence but by the consent of its people,” said the Prime Minister.

Operation Kenova investigated 101 murders and abductions in total.

The interim report found claims emanating from British Army intelligence that alleged agents such as Scappaticci and agents such as Brian Nelson – a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and agent of the Force Research Unit (FRU) – saved hundreds of lives were not true.

Two British Army agent handlers and two alleged IRA members not to be prosecuted after Operation Kenova