Robin Swann questions how government's Troubles approach can be squared with Good Friday Agreement given the involvement of the Irish state
Robin Swann has questioned whether the Labour government’s approach to the Troubles can be squared with the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
The UUP MP for South Antrim was speaking as he set out four of the nine amendments he wants to make to the government’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which passed the hurdle of its second reading tonight.
Mr Swann was one of a number of unionist MPs opposing the bill, alongside Conservatives, but it will now go to committee stage.
Read details of that debate here and its conclusion here.
Tonight, Mr Swann has said in the debate: “The Belfast Agreement has been mentioned a number of times in regards to this.
"Now, I do look in honour and respect at what my party delivered in bringing forward that peace process, but it was delivered in three strands: a Northern Ireland-only basis, a north-south basis and an east-west basis.
"And I have asked the Secretary of State this before: where now does legacy sit within those three strands?
“Because it seems now that he is abdicating and working in parallel with the Irish government in bringing forward what is happening.
“He stood on September 19 beside the then-tanaiste, Simon Harris TD, who told the media afterwards that there would be no specific protections for veterans.
"And as we have seen, there are no specific protections for veterans in this legislation.
"The example that has been used once again is that veterans will not have to go to Northern Ireland to give evidence.
"Tell that to a Northern Ireland veteran.
"What protection, what special coverage is this government actually giving those men and women who served over there?”
Mr Swann intends to table nine amendments to the bill.
He summarised four of them as follows:
"Provide a clear definition of a victim to ensure that those who planned or perpetrated terrorism can never be treated as victims”;
"Add sexual crimes to the list of serious offences, allowing victims of sexual violence to request an investigation";
"Ensure that the Director of Investigations who must be appointed from outside Northern Ireland has investigatory experience within the United Kingdom”;
And “disqualify anyone with terrorist associations from holding any director, commissioner, officer, panel or advisory group role created under the legislation”.