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

This Devastating Attack

On 21 November 1974, twenty-one people were killed and two hundred twenty hurt when explosive devices were detonated at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an incident commonly accepted to have been carried out by the Irish Republican Army.

Legal Aftermath

Not a single person has been convicted for the bombings. In 1991, six individuals had their guilty verdicts quashed after serving more than 16 years in jail in what remains one of the worst errors of the legal system in UK history.

Families Campaign for Answers

Families have for decades campaigned for a national probe into the attacks to find out what the government was aware of at the moment of the event and why nobody has been brought to justice.

Government Response

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, announced on Thursday that while he had profound sympathy for the families, the cabinet had decided “after detailed review” it would not commit to an investigation.

Jarvis explained the administration thinks the newly established commission, established to look into deaths related to the Troubles, could look into the Birmingham incidents.

Advocates Respond

Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was murdered in the bombings, said the decision showed “the administration are indifferent”.

The sixty-two-year-old has long pushed for a public investigation and explained she and other grieving relatives had “no desire” of participating in the investigative panel.

“There’s no true autonomy in the commission,” she stated, explaining it was “like them marking their own work”.

Requests for Evidence Disclosure

For decades, bereaved relatives have been demanding the publication of documents from government bodies on the event – particularly on what the government was aware of prior to and after the bombing, and what proof there is that could lead to prosecutions.

“The entire UK government system is resisting our relatives from ever learning the reality,” she declared. “Only a statutory judge-led open probe will give us entry to the files they state they lack.”

Official Powers

A official national inquiry has particular official powers, including the ability to require individuals to appear and reveal information related to the inquiry.

Earlier Inquest

An investigation in 2019 – fought for grieving families – determined the victims were murdered by the IRA but did not determine the names of those responsible.

Hambleton said: “Government bodies told the then coroner that they have zero documents or information on what continues to be the UK's most prolonged unresolved atrocity of the last century, but at present they want to force us to engage of this investigative body to disclose evidence that they assert has never existed”.

Official Response

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the local constituency, characterized the administration's ruling as “deeply, deeply disappointing”.

Through a announcement on social media, Byrne wrote: “After such a long period, so much suffering, and numerous let-downs” the relatives deserve a procedure that is “impartial, court-supervised, with comprehensive capabilities and unafraid in the pursuit for the reality.”

Continuing Sorrow

Speaking of the family’s enduring sorrow, Hambleton, who chairs the advocacy organization, remarked: “No relative of any horror of any sort will ever have closure. It is unattainable. The suffering and the sorrow persist.”