Theresa May has attacked “activist, left-wing human rights lawyers” bringing legal claims against British soldiers in her Tory party conference speech.
Just one day after she announced a plan to opt out of human rights laws to protect UK troops from being sued, the Prime Minister hit out at the lawyers behind the legal claims against the troops.
She said: “And this week our excellent defence secretary Michael Fallon proved not only that we will support them [British troops] with our heart and souls, not only will we remain committed to spending two per cent of our national income on defence, but we will never again in any future conflict let those activist left-wing human rights lawyers harangue and harass the bravest of the brave the men and women of our armed forces.”
She said the Tories were committed to a “strong national defence” and supporting “the finest armed forces known to man”.
Her message was well received at the Tory party conference in Birmingham with loud applause.
On Tuesday she announced the move to opt out of parts of the European Convention on Human Rights, meaning troops fighting abroad in times of war will be protected from lawsuits.
She referred to an “industry of vexatious claims” after hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans saw legal claims against them over allegations of mistreatment.
Last month she raised concerns about the high number of claims lodged with the Iraq Historic Allegations Team.
