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Ministers have rejected the idea of launching a open inquiry into the Provisional IRA's 1974-era Birmingham city pub bombings.

The Horrific Attack

Back on 21 November 1974, twenty-one people were lost their lives and two hundred twenty injured when bombs were exploded at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town establishments in Birmingham, in an attack largely thought to have been orchestrated by the IRA.

Legal Fallout

Nobody has been sentenced for the bombings. In 1991, 6 individuals had their sentences overturned after spending more than 16 years in detention in what is considered one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in UK history.

Relatives Push for Truth

Loved ones have for years pushed for a public probe into the bombings to discover what the government was aware of at the moment of the event and why not a single person has been held accountable.

Government Decision

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, announced on Thursday that while he had profound empathy for the families, the government had determined “after careful review” it would not establish an probe.

Jarvis explained the authorities believes the reconciliation commission, created to investigate deaths associated with the Troubles, could examine the Birmingham bombings.

Activists React

Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was murdered in the attacks, said the statement demonstrated “the government don't care”.

The 62-year-old has for years campaigned for a national inquiry and explained she and other bereaved relatives had “no desire” of participating in the commission.

“We see no real independence in the commission,” she remarked, explaining it was “like them assessing their own performance”.

Calls for Evidence Disclosure

Over the years, grieving families have been calling for the release of documents from government bodies on the attack – especially on what the state was aware of before and after the attack, and what information there is that could result in legal action.

“The entire state apparatus is resisting our families from ever learning the truth,” she declared. “Exclusively a legally mandated judge-led public investigation will provide us entry to the files they state they don’t have.”

Official Powers

A official public investigation has particular legal powers, including the authority to compel participants to appear and provide information related to the probe.

Previous Inquest

An investigation in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved relatives – determined the victims were unlawfully killed by the Provisional IRA but failed to identify the names of those responsible.

Hambleton said: “Intelligence agencies advised the coroner at the time that they have zero documents or information on what is still the UK's longest unresolved multiple killing of the 1900s, but at present they intend to pressure us down the route of this investigative body to provide evidence that they assert has never been available”.

Political Criticism

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for Hodge Hill and Solihull North, characterized the government’s decision as “profoundly unsatisfactory”.

Through a message on X, Byrne said: “Following so much time, so much suffering, and numerous let-downs” the families are entitled to a process that is “impartial, court-supervised, with comprehensive capabilities and unafraid in the quest for the facts.”

Continuing Pain

Reflecting on the family’s persistent pain, Hambleton, who chairs the advocacy organization, stated: “No relative of any atrocity of any sort will ever have closure. It doesn’t exist. The grief and the grief continue.”