The UK Government is expected to introduce a statute of limitations to end all prosecutions related to the Troubles before 1998 to stop Northern Ireland being “hamstrung by its past”. Secretary of State Brandon Lewis will outline the approach in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, as Government sources rejected claims it would amount to an amnesty for Army veterans and paramilitaries. A Government source said: “We want to give Northern Ireland society the best chance of moving forward as one – to do that we must confront the difficult and painful reality that the realistic prospect of prosecutions is vanishingly small and while that prospect remains Northern Ireland will continue to be hamstrung by its past.