Kemi Badenoch apologises after video opposing Legacy Act reforms features Bloody Sunday footage

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has apologised after a video opposing reforms to the Legacy Act that featured footage of soldiers on Bloody Sunday was posted to her social media account. The video was shared on Tuesday and shows soldiers entering the Bogside area of Londonderry on 30 January 1972. Thirteen people were shot dead when the Army opened fire on civil rights demonstrators. Last year a former Paratrooper was found not guilty of murder and attempted murder that day. The Conservative Party had issued an apology on Friday and said it was removed "as soon as we were made aware of the footage".

Speaking to PA News on Saturday, Badenoch said it had gone out "in error". Asked about the clip when she was in south-east London, Badenoch said: "I have apologised. I did not sign off the video. It was about a vote in parliament where Labour are putting in legislation that is hounding the very elderly veterans for things that happened decades ago, often under the instruction of political leaders who are no longer around. We support our veterans, but the video was done by very young people who did not recognise the footage as being from Bloody Sunday. So I apologise as well that that video went out in error. It was removed as soon as the party understood that that was what had been put out."

Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said use of the footage was "disgusting and disgraceful". Eastwood said he welcomed the apology but called on Badenoch to apology personally to the survivors and families of victims of Bloody Sunday. The video was published on several Conservative Party social platforms and on Badenoch's X account before it was removed on Friday.

On Friday The Conservative Party, whose former leader David Cameron issued a public apology for the soldiers' actions, said the video was removed "as soon as we were made aware of the footage". "We apologise for the inclusion of this material, which should not have been used and will not be used again," a spokesman told BBC News NI.

In 2010 the Saville Inquiry into the shootings found that none of the casualties were posing a threat or doing anything that would justify their shooting. The Prime Minister at the time, Cameron, described the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable". In October 2025, a former paratrooper known as Soldier F was found not guilty of the murder of William McKinney, 26, and James Wray, 22, and the attempted murder of five others on Bloody Sunday.

Labour's bill, The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, seeks to replace the contentious Legacy Act, which introduced a ban on inquests and civil actions related to Troubles-era incidents. It aims to repeal and replace the previous Conservative government's legislation. London and Dublin agreed a joint framework last September ahead of the UK government starting its bid to replace the previous legacy act. The government has faced pressure from veterans and some MPs who have said the legislation does not go far enough when it comes to protections for veterans.