Contributions
836 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDLegacy IssuesMy right hon. Friend is right. I saw some of the comments made in yesterday’s debate and, as I said last week, we recognise the strength of feeling and the concerns that people…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolI take my hon. Friend’s point: this is not something that we can allow to drag on and on. I think our track record shows that we will do what we need to do when the time is right,…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolOn mutual enforcement, we have sought to draw from ideas such as the suggestion of penalties for moving non-compliant goods to Ireland from Northern Ireland. We think that there…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolI thank the right hon. Gentleman for his wider support and I share his frustration at hearing people who purport to represent UK citizens and Northern Ireland citizens, in this…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolYes, I hope that the EU will engage in a positive way, because I think that as equal partners and equal sovereign states we are able to conduct a proper negotiation to resolve…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolAgain, perhaps the hon. Gentleman should have a look in detail at the statement I gave a short while ago and the Command Paper, because we are specifically setting out that we…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolLet me point out to the hon. Lady that there are two parties to the agreement, the UK and the EU. I can only assume from her suggestion that we should take more notice of other…21 Jul 2021HANSARDLegacy IssuesAs the hon. Gentleman rightly acknowledges, there is no moral equivalence here. Obviously there is a legal equivalence going back to the Good Friday/Belfast agreement, but there…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolYes, and we are looking forward to having those very conversations with the EU in the weeks ahead.21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolMy hon. Friend highlights an important point. We are talking to small businesses and, indeed, the wholesale groups that they often work with to make sure that there is a way for…21 Jul 2021HANSARD Northern Ireland ProtocolWe are not looking to set arbitrary timelines. We want to let the EU respond and to negotiate with it, and in the weeks ahead we will all see how that negotiation works through. I…21 Jul 2021HANSARDPetition of Concern Mechanism: Third ReportI am laying before both Houses of Parliament the third report by the UK Government on the use of the petition of concern mechanism in the Northern Ireland Assembly. As part of the…19 Jul 2021HANSARDIndependent Reviewer of National Security Arrangements: 2020 ReportThe role of the independent reviewer of national security arrangements in Northern Ireland is to monitor compliance with annex E of the St. Andrews agreement, reviewing the…19 Jul 2021HANSARD Legacy of Northern Ireland’s PastThank you, Mr Speaker. My apologies to you and to the House. I accept the comments that you have made. I just say in my defence and in that of colleagues who have been working on…14 Jul 2021HANSARD Legacy of Northern Ireland’s PastI appreciate the comments of the Chairman of the Select Committee. There is a lot of work to do with our partners, not just victims and veterans—who of course are also often…14 Jul 2021HANSARD Legacy of Northern Ireland’s PastI absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman about making sure that we are able to get to the truth and get to information. Nobody in this House ever wants to see again a situation…14 Jul 2021HANSARD Legacy of Northern Ireland’s PastThe right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: victims must be a huge and important part of this process. We have been engaged with organisations such as the WAVE Trauma Centre,…14 Jul 2021HANSARD Legacy of Northern Ireland’s PastYes. My right hon. Friend, who I know has had a great interest in Northern Ireland for many years, is absolutely right. It cannot be right that, 23 years on from the Belfast/Good…14 Jul 2021HANSARD Legacy of Northern Ireland’s PastI appreciate that the hon. Gentleman tends in this House, as we saw yesterday, to use emotive comments for soundbites, often for his own social media outlet. To use somebody’s…14 Jul 2021HANSARD Legacy of Northern Ireland’s PastYes, I can absolutely give that assurance. We have been doing so over the past 18 months, and with wider civic society as well. We were certainly doing so in the intensive talks…14 Jul 2021