Measures to enhance the protection for service personnel facing claims of criminal acts abroad will not apply to those who served in Northern Ireland over the last few decades.
Families of those shot by British servicemen want to see some retired soldiers face investigations and trials.
But retired veterans, and some MPs, are pressing the government to stop the prosecutions that reach back to the 1970s.
For Politics Live, John Owen reports on the anger and fears from campaigners on both sides.
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