Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois has urged Prime Minister Theresa May to protect service veterans from being unfairly prosecuted for their service.

At Wednesday night’s question time, Mr Francois, who is also the former Armed Forces Minister, gave his full support to fellow Tory MP Richard Beynon’s Armed Forces Statute of Limitations Bill.

The bill proposes to create a ten-year limit on court proceedings against current and former members of the Armed Forces for certain alleged offences committed during military operations.

This will mean after the ten-year limit military personnel would not be liable for their actions when on active service. Mr Francois pointed out the Prime Minister needed to protect the country’s Northern Ireland veterans.

Mr Francois said: “I was pleased to have the opportunity to raise my concerns with the Prime Minister that those who served upholding the rule of law in Northern Ireland, many of whom are now past retirement, should not be hounded by the authorities just to keep Sinn Fein happy.

“Our troops sought to uphold the rule of law in incredibly difficult circumstances and they deserve our support, which the Armed Forces Statute of Limitations Bill would help to provide.

“I asked the Prime Minister if she could take an interest in the Bill and ensure that Northern Ireland veterans are not subjected to a politically motivate witch hunt.

“We should not forget those who were killed at the hands of terrorists in Northern Ireland.”

The Prime Minister agreed with Mr Francois that it was important to ensure that any further legacy investigations are conducted in a fair and proportional way.

Mr Benyon said: “My Bill would set a statute of limitations beyond which it would be impossible to bring a case against any individual about whom an allegation was made regarding actions he or she took while serving on operations.

“I would argue that ten years is the right period for which to legislate. I fully accept that there would have to be caveats and exceptions, and my Bill would define what we mean by operations.

“A decade gives plenty of time to bring forward legitimate cases in which real wrongdoing has occurred, and it is about the timescale after which evidential trails start to run cold.”