Cameron apologises for Bloody Sunday, but what now?

John Major said in 1993 that those shot could be regarded as innocent. Tony Blair echoed those words in 1998. Today David Cameron went further and issued an apology. What now?

If there were to be criminal prosecutions for any British soldiers, and Lord Saville’s report indicates certain candidates, those individuals would have to re-testify under the original terms of the tribunal.

Under those rules, individuals’ evidence to the tribunal could not be used against them in a prosecution… with one exception – perjury in front of the tribunal, the attorney general said, was different.

Lord Saville clearly thinks some soldiers perjured themselves. It’s hard to imagine that someone won’t consider a civil prosecution. David Cameron was careful not to say anything about criminal prosecutions, which rest with the Northern Ireland DPP, but you’re bound to come away from his “move on” conclusion to the statement in the Commons thinking it’s the last thing he wants to come out of this.

On the mechanics, duration and cost of the Saville inquiry, David Cameron simply said “there will be no more open-ended and costly inquiries” but his spokesman said that Kenneth Clarke “speaks for the government” and Mr Clarke said, on Sky on Sunday, that the Saville inquiry’s length and costs got “ludicrously out of hand” and it had been “a disaster” in terms of time and expense.