SORRY seems to be the hardest word — as well as it being the title of a song by Elton John, it could also describe the reluctance of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to formally apologise to the families of the 1971 Ballymurphy massacre.

Criticism was directed at Johnson following the ruling on May 11, when Mrs Justice Keegan concluded that the victims of the shootings were “entirely innocent” and the British army was responsible.

Keegan went on to criticise the lack of investigation into the tenth victim John Kerr — and said she could not rule who had killed him.

Yet despite this ruling laying the blame on the British army, it took until May 19 before Johnson finally did the decent thing and formally apologised to the families.

Interestingly, before Johnson’s formal apology, speaking in the Commons on May 13, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis stated: “The government is truly sorry for the events in Ballymurphy 50 years ago, in which 10 innocent people were killed.”

Lewis went on to acknowledge the terrible hurt which had been caused to the families and, in a twist of irony, paid tribute to them for the patience they had shown during their campaign for justice.

I say irony, because the patience the families have shown in clearing the names of the victims was not because they were waiting for the government to help them — far from it.

They had to be patient because they were taking on agencies of successive British governments that tried to hinder their every move.

It is not just the families of Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy massacre that have been subjected to this treatment.

Even today, there are still many families in the North of Ireland working to uncover just why their loved ones were killed.

Lewis also stated that the British government “wants to deliver a way forward in addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland, one that will allow all individuals of families who want information, to seek and receive answers about what happened during the Troubles with far less delay and distress.”

If you ask any of the families, you will find agencies of the British government have done exactly the opposite. Not even the death of a child could open up the British government to transparency.

For example, take the case of 15-year-old Paul Whitter, killed in 1981 after being struck on the head by a plastic bullet, fired by an officer of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The files that could reveal the circumstances surrounding Whitter’s death have been locked away in the National Archives in Kew until 2071.

Therefore, if Lewis is serious regarding the intention of the British government to allow the families to seek and receive answers on the circumstances of how and why their loved ones were killed, I would expect files held at Kew, like that of Whitter and many others, to be declassified as soon as possible to allow that to happen. However, like the families, I won’t be holding my breath.

One interesting point Lewis did refer to in his speech was that he confirmed what I and other former soldiers and commentators on the Troubles have been saying for some time: “There is no doubt that what happened on those awful few days in Ballymurphy also fuelled further violence and escalation, particularly in the early years of the Troubles.”

Of course, the mainstream media, like many aspects of their reporting on this subject, either chose to ignore it or purposely disregarded it for fear of potentially opening a can of worms.

What Lewis was hinting at is that the actions by the paratroopers in Ballymurphy in August 1971 without doubt led to the situation deteriorating, before reaching its peak the following year, after troops from the same regiment opened fire on innocent civilians in Derry in January 1972.

While I see the admission by Lewis as progress, there is still a reluctance by the British government to knowledge why the British army went from being seen as the protectors of the Catholic community to becoming part of the problem.

If the British government wants to put things right, it needs to acknowledge where the mistakes were made.

Waiting until the families finally prove in court that their loved one was an unarmed innocent victim, then sending a government minister to read a scripted apology isn’t good enough — especially when it is carefully worded so as not lose face with the electorate or anger military veterans who will then ask “What about the IRA?” — completely ignoring that there were other armed paramilitary organisations involved too.

To begin with, the British government could look at the events of the Falls curfew in 1970, when what began as a search for IRA weapons by police of the Royal Ulster Constabulary accompanied by British soldiers ended with four unarmed civilians killed.

One was knocked down by a military vehicle and three others shot. One of those shot dead was standing on his doorstep and the two others shot for no reason other than leaving their homes.

After watching what a small Catholic community of West Belfast had been subjected to over 36 hours, the mask of impartiality worn by the British army had slipped. What other conclusion could they reach?

If the initial search was in direct response to the gun battle days earlier in East Belfast between republican and loyalist gunmen, as a “peacekeeping force” you could argue that the British army were right and justified to search for weapons used by the IRA.

However, that argument loses any creditability once the question is asked, why then was the search focused on republican weapons, and not a joint operation to find loyalist weapons too?

If Lewis is serious about delivering a way forward and giving the families answers, he needs to demonstrate this by releasing all the files for scrutiny.

Secondly, he must acknowledge that the mistakes made in the early days of the Troubles, like the Falls curfew, encouraged recruitment of the IRA and therefore escalated the violence.

Lastly, where evidence suggests any of the security forces acted outside the law, it must be for the courts to decide if that is the case. Will this happen? Not in the foreseeable future.

While it is well documented that the security forces were fighting the IRA, the British government admitting to the mistakes such as the Falls curfew would be an admission that the war with the IRA began before the IRA fired their first shot at any British soldier — and no prime minister wants to admit to that.

Richard Rudkin is a former soldier who served in the North of Ireland.