Alliance MP blasts 're-writing of history' in apparent swipe at Sinn Fein over Troubles immunity
Alliance’s MP has voted in favour of removing the Troubles immunity contained in the Legacy Act.
The Commons also voted to repeal the ban on new Troubles civil cases at the same time.
Among those favouring the repeal was Sorcha Eastwood (Lagan Valley) who said: “The member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) said – he will forgive me if I misrepresent him – ‘if the price of giving veterans an amnesty is that terrorists get the same, well then that is a price I am willing to pay’.
"Well, that is a price that I and the people of Lagan Valley, and the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland, are simply not willing to pay...
"None of us gets to speak for veterans en masse.
"I have veterans in my own house. I am proud of them. And do you know what? They never asked for immunity.”
She went on to add: “I agree with my colleagues from Northern Ireland whenever they say that there is a wholesale rewriting of history – absolutely, there is; it is already in progress – but I would simply ask them to stop, pause and think.”
In an apparent swipe at Sinn Fein, she said: “There is a rewriting of history already going on, and there are those who are not present in this House today who will say, ‘see, told you so: they all needed a get-out-jail-free card, because we can’t guarantee that every single person who served in Northern Ireland did so honourably and lawfully’.
"Think what that will give them.
"I do not want that to happen – I do not want that to happen.”
She concluded: “We should not lower our standards because we worry about the standards of terrorists and the evidence available to them.
"We should maintain our rule of law. I will be supporting this order today.”