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Ministers have decided against establishing a national inquiry into the Provisional IRA's 1974 Birmingham city pub attacks.

This Horrific Attack

On 21 November 1974, twenty-one civilians were murdered and two hundred twenty wounded when explosive devices were detonated at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an incident largely thought to have been carried out by the IRA.

Judicial Consequences

No one has been found guilty over the incidents. Back in 1991, six men had their guilty verdicts quashed after spending more than 16 years in jail in what is considered one of the worst errors of justice in British history.

Relatives Fight for Justice

Families have for decades campaigned for a open investigation into the explosions to uncover what the state was aware of at the time of the event and why not a single person has been brought to justice.

Official Decision

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, said on recently that while he had profound empathy for the relatives, the cabinet had concluded “after careful deliberation” it would not authorize an investigation.

Jarvis said the administration considers the newly established commission, established to investigate deaths related to the Troubles, could look into the Birmingham incidents.

Activists Respond

Activist Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was lost her life in the explosions, commented the announcement indicated “the administration show no concern”.

The sixty-two-year-old has for years campaigned for a national inquiry and said she and other grieving relatives had “no plan” of taking part in the investigative panel.

“We see no true autonomy in the panel,” she said, explaining it was “like them assessing their own work”.

Calls for Document Disclosure

Over the years, grieving relatives have been calling for the disclosure of documents from government bodies on the incident – specifically on what the government was aware of before and following the attack, and what information there is that could bring about prosecutions.

“The whole British establishment is opposed to our relatives from ever discovering the facts,” she declared. “Only a legally mandated judicial public inquiry will give us entry to the papers they state they don’t have.”

Official Authority

A official national probe has specific official capabilities, encompassing the power to compel individuals to testify and disclose information associated with the probe.

Earlier Inquest

An investigation in 2019 – fought for bereaved relatives – ruled the those killed were unlawfully killed by the IRA but failed to identify the names of those culpable.

Hambleton stated: “The security services advised the presiding official that they have zero records or documentation on what remains the UK's longest unsolved atrocity of the 1900s, but at present they want to push us to engage of this investigative body to share evidence that they assert has never been available”.

Political Criticism

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the Birmingham area, described the government’s decision as “deeply, deeply disappointing”.

In a statement on Twitter, Byrne wrote: “After so much period, so much pain, and so many disappointments” the loved ones merit a process that is “independent, judicially directed, with full capabilities and courageous in the quest for the truth.”

Ongoing Sorrow

Speaking of the families' persistent grief, Hambleton, who leads the campaign group, stated: “No relative of any atrocity of any sort will ever have closure. It is unattainable. The suffering and the sorrow remain.”