Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill

Thank you, Mr Evans; we trust that it will not be too long before that is upgraded to “Sir Nigel”...

I thank the Minister of State for setting the scene. There is one thing that concerns me and, I b...

The hon. Gentleman speaks with great emotion and personal connection to these events. I extend ag...

Will the Minister give way?

I will, but I will not do today what I did last Wednesday, which was to take about 40 interventio...

I am grateful. The Minister mentions that the Irish Government made commitments. I absolutely agr...

We believe that the commitment made by the Government of the Irish Republic was a stand-alone com...

The Minister will know that if a prosecutor has not made a decision on a file prior to the enactm...

I completely understand why the hon. Gentleman has asked that question, and the view that he take...

I commend my right hon. Friend for his stance. While everyone wants to see finality and an end to...

I agree with my hon. Friend, and I am grateful to him for what he has acknowledged. He has been i...

Does the Minister accept that those who are engaged in the Kenova process want not information re...

The right hon. Gentleman makes an entirely valid point. As I think the Committee acknowledged whe...

Can I ask the Minister to recognise that there is an in-built unfairness in this process of arbit...

I say respectfully to the hon. Gentleman that in all these things there has to be a point at whic...

It is worth pointing out that we have two days for what is supposed to be the Committee stage, an...

The Government’s view is that this body will have more information and more powers than the exist...

Is there not a danger of this process becoming rather hollow, particularly when the overall legac...

I am slightly confused by that question, given the Government’s commitment to hand over pretty mu...

Unfortunately, the Minister was interrupted in mid flow. He was about to make the point that the ...

The hon. Gentleman is a distinguished parliamentarian and a former very effective Minister, and h...

No, I will not give way at this moment. What I can say to the hon. Gentleman is that the informat...

I have some sympathy with the Minister’s position, in so far as everyone wants to criticise the U...

The right hon. Gentleman’s point will have great resonance across these islands and with many fam...

The final thing I will say—then I will give way a couple more times—is that the information held ...

In the interests of balance, I am going to take an intervention from the leader of the SDLP.

Let me take this opportunity to make it very clear that every single murder and every single crim...

The hon. Gentleman knows that in the Bill, a legal obligation is being placed on all agencies of ...

Just last week, it was reported in the Belfast Telegraph that victims’ campaigner Kenny Donaldson...

The current mechanisms are not delivering in a timely way. Time is running out, and we believe th...

In the interests of getting balance in this whole memorialisation process, does the Minister not ...

The right hon. Gentleman is, in a real sense, right to raise those concerns, but the way the proc...

rose—

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Member for South Antrim (Paul Girvan) and then to the hon. Member for...

On the last point, we have a difficulty in that many organisations have been set up to tell the s...

I entirely understand where the hon. Gentleman is coming from and I entirely understand what he s...

While the Minister took issue with the comment from the hon. Member for Foyle (Colum Eastwood), i...

I have huge respect for the hon. Gentleman and the points he makes. What I will say to him from t...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

This is genuinely the last time I will give way.

As we have heard, if a terrorist is convicted, they spend a maximum of two years in jail. As I un...

The short answer to my county neighbour is yes. That is why we are reflecting very carefully on t...

Could I ask anybody who intends to try to catch my eye to stand so that we can get an idea of num...

Right—thank you very much.

I will try to keep my remarks as brief as possible as well. We do not want to end up in the situa...

The hon. Member makes an important point, and the whole Committee will be united in agreeing with...

There is previous and existing legislation relating to crimes, but when people have served their ...

The shadow Secretary of State is making an excellent speech. He mentioned the Ballymurphy inquiry...

My hon. Friend makes the point incredibly powerfully and well. It is true that the information an...

I pay tribute to both Front Benchers—the Minister and the hon. Member for Hove (Peter Kyle)—for t...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Of course I will give way in a minute.

That is why this space is difficult for the Governme...

I am very grateful to the hon. Member; we are becoming good friends here now. I agree with him on...

I have a lot of sympathy with the hon. Member, and he is right in a lot of what he says in this s...

The hon. Gentleman has forwarded the argument about collusion a number of times, and I totally ag...

This is an incredibly challenging place, and I will choose my words carefully. Were people who to...

You’re the only person left saying this.

I am not the only person left. That is the way the country works. There are other people who thin...

Let me ask the hon. Gentleman one simple question: there are countless examples, but has he ever ...

I am afraid I know the Stakeknife case intimately, which is why I said what I said at the beginni...

Before the hon. Gentleman moves away from the point about balance, he and I share the view that t...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right, but as he said, there cannot be an equivalent. So what ...

rose —

I am happy to give way in a moment.

At some point we have to decide where the balance lies....

I would love to say that I am enjoying the hon. Member’s third Second Reading contribution. He kn...

I was in the Government, and I left the Government. Look, lots of discussions on legacy have take...

They weren’t prosecuted.

They were prosecuted. Soldier A and Soldier C ended up in court in Northern Ireland—I was there—a...

rose —

I will give way, because I am the only speaker on the Government side and I think that we want to...

The hon. Member knows that that prosecution collapsed, and rightly so. The court was hugely criti...

That is my point: the fact that it got there and those two soldiers went through that process for...

Will the hon. Member support the amendment on glorification this evening?

As I understand it, conversations are ongoing about how that objective can be achieved—[ Interrup...

I will attempt to emulate previous speakers in trying to speak for the shortest possible period, ...

I very much welcome what the hon. Gentleman is saying, particularly on judicial reviews and civil...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. To speak to his wider point, the right of acces...

First of all, we understand how sensitive the whole issue of legacy is: we live with it every day...

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, particularly on those seeking elected office who ha...

I really do not understand the logic. The Government must act to deal with the hurt that victims ...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. The prison officer who finally died as a result of the ...

The problem is that we do not know how many other Gerry Kellys are there, lurking in the backgrou...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene, and I utterly agree with him about...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He is quite right.

The Minister said...

I follow on from my right hon. Friend’s point about the frailties of the Bill. We have been consi...

I entirely agree. Please will the Government accept the amendment that would stop the glorificati...

I am very pleased that I gave way to the right hon. and gallant Gentleman. I have appreciated all...

If some of the amendments are accepted, will my hon. Friend be minded to vote for the Bill?

I hope that the hon. Gentleman has listened to my contributions throughout these proceedings. We ...

That is unfair.

It is not unfair; I think that it is absolutely appropriate. I do not say it as any criticism or ...

My hon. Friend says that I represent one side. I have never argued for anything other than fairne...

I listened to the hon. Gentleman, and I hope that he heard what I had to say in response. If he w...

I have huge respect for my hon. Friend, but a lot of what he says supports the view that he is hi...

I say to you, Mr Evans, that I have absolutely no idea what that intervention was about, what poi...

I will explain.

I am happy to give way—but I mean, really!

What I am saying is that my hon. Friend is outlining individual cases and is putting across his o...

The point that I was making was about the definition of “innocent victims” and the memorialisatio...

rose —

No, I want the hon. Gentleman to listen, because he does not seem to understand the point. From 1...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

No, I will not give way at this point. When the hon. Gentleman stands up and says that there is n...

My hon. Friend talks about compliance with the European convention on human rights. The critical ...

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman failed to heed the necessity for the House to grasp the argument and t...

The last few moments have demonstrated the truth of what I have said on both days on which we hav...

I am grateful to the Minister for that clarification. I hope he accepts the point that I made ear...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson). It is not often tha...

On that point, I made the point strongly earlier that, whatever we say in this House or in the ot...

I will be generous in accepting what the Minister says about his intentions, but we have to be ho...

The Government and the Committee are very aware of my party’s reasons for opposing this Bill, as ...

I thank both my hon. Friend and my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) for t...

I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention and agree entirely with what he is saying. It i...

Amendment 107 is, of course, about addressing whether serious offences should be excluded, for ex...

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. It is well made and has been noted.

New clause 4 see...

Let me begin by saying that this is an astonishingly important Bill and this is an incredibly inc...

I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying in relation to the nationalist community, but I am...

I entirely agree with the right hon. Gentleman on that. I have spoken to many victims, from all q...

Will the hon. Member give way?

I will, although I am reluctant to, because the hon. Member has monopolised a lot of this debate....

I apologise, but we have to be fair. The hon. Member is talking about collusion. If we dealt with...

If the hon. Member had listened to me, he would know that the reference I made—the case of the Or...

In the debate about the difference between murders that have occurred, and whether they have affe...

I agree, particularly for this reason: killing is killing. We do not have a statute of limitation...

The hon. Member is making an important speech. I wonder whether he has heard that the Council of ...

The only thing that I would disagree with there is “could”; the reality is that it will lead to i...

I rise in support of the amendments in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Peter Kyle...

I have spoken at some length on this matter. On the first occasion, I spoke about family members ...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is making a strong point. When he talks of people who commit...

I share my hon. Friend’s disappointment over the amendment that he put forward. It grieves me dee...

My hon. Friend is making a strong point. Of course, the UK Government cannot legislate for matter...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I am glad that that has now been put on record. In ...

I thank all hon. Members from across the Chamber who have participated in this second day of the ...

I have a lot of sympathy with what the hon. Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) is trying to...

Clause 20(2) makes very clear the obligations of the body to look at the totality of the informat...

The Minister is making a fair point, but it is not the right one for what we are considering. He ...

The consequence for lying, as the hon. Gentleman knows, in the first instance is that if the body...

rose —

I think we need to make some progress. We have talked about this extensively, and the Bill will m...

I thank the Minister for allowing me to intervene. May I remind the House that actually, although...

My right hon. and gallant Friend makes an important point, and it might be the appropriate point ...

Government manuscript new clause 1 and Government manuscript amendments 1 to 4 have been selected...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I mirror the comments of the Minis...

I echo the Secretary of State’s comments in congratulating everybody who has taken part in our de...

I call SNP spokesperson Richard Thomson.

9.5 pm

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I, too, thank everyone who was involved in the passage of the Bi...

On behalf of the DUP, I thank everyone who has taken part in our debates in Committee. As I did e...

While a few MPs have had to sit through a few hours of debate about this issue, many victims have...

I join others in paying tribute to all the staff who have worked incredibly hard behind the scene...