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Ministers have decided against establishing a national probe into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham city pub bombings.

The Devastating Incident

On 21 November 1974, twenty-one individuals were killed and two hundred twenty hurt when explosive devices were detonated at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town pub venues in Birmingham, in an attack commonly accepted to have been orchestrated by the Provisional IRA.

Judicial Consequences

Nobody has been found guilty for the bombings. Back in 1991, 6 defendants had their guilty verdicts quashed after spending more than 16 years in prison in what is considered one of the worst errors of justice in British history.

Victims' Families Push for Justice

Relatives have for decades pushed for a open inquiry into the explosions to uncover what the state was aware of at the time of the incident and why no one has been held accountable.

Official Decision

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, said on Thursday that while he had profound sympathy for the families, the government had decided “after thorough consideration” it would not commit to an investigation.

Jarvis stated the government thinks the reconciliation commission, created to investigate deaths related to the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham bombings.

Advocates React

Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was lost her life in the bombings, stated the announcement indicated “the administration show no concern”.

The 62-year-old has for decades campaigned for a open inquiry and said she and other grieving families had “no desire” of participating in the new body.

“There is no true independence in the commission,” she said, explaining it was “tantamount to them assessing their own work”.

Demands for Evidence Disclosure

For decades, bereaved loved ones have been requesting the disclosure of files from security services on the incident – specifically on what the government was aware of before and after the bombing, and what proof there is that could result in legal action.

“The whole state apparatus is resisting our families from ever learning the truth,” she declared. “Exclusively a official judge-directed open investigation will grant us entry to the documents they claim they don’t have.”

Legal Powers

A official national probe has particular judicial authorities, encompassing the authority to require participants to attend and disclose details associated with the probe.

Previous Investigation

An inquest in 2019 – fought for grieving relatives – determined the those killed were murdered by the Provisional IRA but did not determine the identities of those accountable.

Hambleton stated: “The security services advised the presiding official that they have absolutely no files or information on what is still Britain's most prolonged open atrocity of the last century, but currently they aim to pressure us to participate of this new commission to share details that they assert has never been available”.

Political Response

Liam Byrne, the MP for the Birmingham area, labeled the government’s ruling as “extremely disheartening”.

Through a message on social media, Byrne wrote: “Following such a long time, such immense pain, and numerous disappointments” the families are entitled to a mechanism that is “independent, judicially directed, with full powers and unafraid in the pursuit for the facts.”

Continuing Pain

Speaking of the families' ongoing pain, Hambleton, who chairs the campaign group, said: “No family of any atrocity of any type will ever have resolution. It is impossible. The suffering and the anguish remain.”