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Government officials have decided against launching a open investigation into the IRA's 1974-era Birmingham city bar attacks.

This Tragic Attack

Back on 21 November 1974, 21 civilians were murdered and two hundred twenty wounded when explosive devices were set off at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town establishments in Birmingham, in an incident widely believed to have been carried out by the IRA.

Legal Fallout

Nobody has been found guilty for the incidents. Back in 1991, six defendants had their convictions reversed after spending more than 16 years in detention in what stands as one of the most severe miscarriages of the legal system in United Kingdom history.

Victims' Families Push for Justice

Loved ones have long pushed for a public probe into the attacks to find out what the government was aware of at the moment of the incident and why not a single person has been brought to justice.

Official Statement

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, announced on Thursday that while he had deep sympathy for the relatives, the cabinet had decided “after detailed review” it would not establish an inquiry.

Jarvis explained the government believes the newly established commission, created to investigate deaths associated with the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham bombings.

Advocates React

Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, said the statement demonstrated “the authorities are indifferent”.

The 62-year-old has for decades campaigned for a national probe and said she and other grieving families had “no desire” of taking part in the investigative panel.

“We see no genuine impartiality in the panel,” she stated, noting it was “equivalent to them assessing their own performance”.

Demands for Evidence Disclosure

Over the years, grieving loved ones have been requesting the disclosure of files from intelligence agencies on the attack – specifically on what the government was aware of prior to and following the attack, and what evidence there is that could bring about arrests.

“The whole state apparatus is opposed to our relatives from ever learning the truth,” she declared. “Only a official judge-directed public inquiry will grant us access to the documents they claim they lack.”

Official Powers

A statutory national investigation has specific official powers, such as the authority to oblige witnesses to appear and disclose evidence connected to the investigation.

Prior Inquest

An inquest in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved relatives – concluded the victims were murdered by the IRA but did not establish the identities of those responsible.

Hambleton commented: “Government bodies informed the then coroner that they have zero documents or information on what is still England’s most prolonged open multiple killing of the last century, but at present they want to pressure us to participate of this Legacy Commission to disclose evidence that they claim has not been present”.

Political Response

Liam Byrne, the MP for the local constituency, characterized the government’s decision as “deeply, deeply disappointing”.

In a message on X, Byrne stated: “After such a long time, such immense grief, and countless failures” the loved ones deserve a mechanism that is “autonomous, judge-led, with comprehensive powers and unafraid in the pursuit for the facts.”

Continuing Grief

Discussing the families' ongoing pain, Hambleton, who chairs the campaign group, remarked: “No relative of any tragedy of any sort will ever have peace. It doesn’t exist. The suffering and the anguish continue.”