🔗 Share this article Government Deny National Investigation into Birmingham Bar Explosions Ministers have decided against initiating a public inquiry into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham bar attacks. The Horrific Event Back on 21 November 1974, twenty-one civilians were killed and two hundred twenty wounded when bombs were set off at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town establishments in Birmingham, in an attack commonly accepted to have been carried out by the Provisional IRA. Legal Aftermath Nobody has been sentenced for the attacks. In 1991, six men had their sentences reversed after serving over 16 years in prison in what stands as one of the gravest errors of justice in United Kingdom history. Relatives Push for Truth Loved ones have for decades campaigned for a national probe into the attacks to find out what the government was aware of at the time of the tragedy and why not a single person has been brought to justice. Government Decision The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, said on Thursday that while he had sincere sympathy for the loved ones, the administration had decided “after detailed deliberation” it would not establish an investigation. Jarvis explained the government thinks the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, set up to investigate deaths connected to the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham bombings. Campaigners React Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was killed in the explosions, commented the statement showed “the government don't care”. The sixty-two-year-old has long campaigned for a open inquiry and stated she and other grieving families had “no plan” of engaging in the commission. “We see no genuine impartiality in the body,” she stated, adding it was “like them assessing their own homework”. Calls for Evidence Disclosure For years, grieving families have been demanding the disclosure of documents from intelligence agencies on the attack – specifically on what the state was aware of before and following the incident, and what evidence there is that could lead to legal action. “The entire state apparatus is against our families from ever discovering the truth,” she declared. “Solely a official judicial public investigation will grant us entry to the documents they state they don’t have.” Legal Powers A statutory national inquiry has distinct judicial powers, such as the power to compel witnesses to attend and provide information related to the investigation. Previous Investigation An hearing in 2019 – fought for bereaved relatives – ruled the those killed were illegally slain by the IRA but failed to identify the names of those accountable. Hambleton said: “Intelligence agencies informed the then coroner that they have zero records or evidence on what continues to be the UK's longest unresolved multiple killing of the 1900s, but now they aim to force us down the route of this Legacy Commission to provide information that they state has never been available”. Official Criticism Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the local constituency, labeled the administration's decision as “deeply, deeply disappointing”. In a announcement on Twitter, Byrne stated: “After so much period, such immense pain, and numerous failures” the families merit a procedure that is “independent, court-supervised, with full powers and fearless in the quest for the facts.” Enduring Grief Speaking of the families' enduring grief, Hambleton, who heads the campaign group, stated: “No family of any atrocity of any sort will ever have peace. It is unattainable. The grief and the sorrow remain.”