A CONTROVERSIAL legislation into the Troubles legacy and reconciliation was branded a “whitewash” today as it cleared the Commons despite opposition from Northern Ireland MPs and victims’ groups.

MPs voted 282 votes to 217, majority 65, to give the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill a third reading.

The Bill seeks to establish a new information retrieval body to review deaths and other harmful conduct between January 1, 1966, to April 10, 1998.

It proposes an effective amnesty for crimes during the time for those who co-operate with a new information body.

The Bill also seeks to bring to an end inquests which have not reached an advanced stage and prevent future inquests into Troubles-related deaths.

Northern Ireland MPs from different communities voted against the Bill.

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood told the Commons: “What we are doing today is utterly shameful.

“It is a whitewash on a grand scale.”

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: “We want to see an outcome on legacy, we recognise the government’s desire to move this process forward but we disagree with the method and the process that is being proposed.”

Alliance MP Stephen Farry said: “I do fear this will be a very expensive white elephant that won’t be used by both victims or perpetrators, but it will make the process of reconciliation in Northern Ireland that much harder.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis earlier said: “We are also resolute in our commitment to delivering legislation that does all it can to deliver for those impacted by the Troubles.

Labour also did not back the Bill, with shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle saying: “The Bill as it stands today still has no support of any Northern Ireland parties, it still has no support of any victims’ group in Northern Ireland.”

He said that amnesty was “too easy to earn,” telling MPs: “This Bill gives more rights to people who committed crimes during the Troubles than it does to their victims and for those reasons we will be opposing at third reading.”

Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns said: “Nothing in this Bill would prevent the prosecution of individuals who were deemed to have committed an offence under the Terrorism Act 2006.”

A DUP amendment designed to revoke immunity for people later found to have lied was also rejected by 282 votes to 218, a majority of 64.

The Bill now goes to the House of Lords for further scrutiny before returning to the Commons.