Ministers have ruled out a public inquiry into the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, directing families to the Troubles commission. Relatives say only a judge-led inquiry can compel answers. What that choice means for justice, trust, and disclosure.
00:0051 years on, the question is simple. Do the families get a judge or another process behind frosted glass?
00:07Ministers say no to a public inquiry. They point to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, created for Troubles' deaths.
00:18It can take evidence and offer conditional immunity to those who cooperate.
00:22Families hear that and think less sunlight, fewer subpoenas and too much discretion.
00:28This matters here because trust costs money. Confidence in policing, court time, disclosure battles and decades of appeals are already a bill the region keeps paying.
00:40If the truth lives in foils or in memories that need a summons, a commission without full inquiry powers won't price them open.
00:48At the memorial you can read the 21 names. A jury found they were unlawfully killed. No perpetrator was named.
00:56Two bombs in the city centre, lives ended, futures gone and still no final record that can stand up in law.
01:04Government's case is that the ICRIR is faster and focused.
01:09The family's case is that only a judge-led inquiry can compel the state and any suspects to face questions in public.
01:16Both can't be right.
01:17So here's the practical test.
01:19Will West Midlands Police, the Home Office and Defence release everything unredacted to reprocess the families except as credible?
01:27If not, we're back where we started.
01:29Grief outsourced the paperwork.
01:32Birmingham rebuilt the streets.
01:34What people want now is the record rebuilt to match the truth.
01:37Without that, every anniversary is another reminder that the state still won't look itself in the eye.
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