Northern Ireland

Antony Higginbotham Excerpts

Tuesday 13th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

On the hon. Gentleman’s last comment, he might want to have a look through Hansard later and reread my remarks, because that is not what I said. It is actually quite the opposite—I have spoken to the Irish Government—so I suggest he has a look at what I actually said.

It is very misleading to try, as I said earlier, to legitimise or even to simplify—I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman is not legitimising it, to be fair—what we have seen over the past few weeks and the tensions around Brexit. As many of us know—I know the hon. Gentleman knows this because it was outlined to him and me by the Chief Constable at the end of last week—there is a multifaceted set of issues, not least some of the brilliant work that the PSNI has done to crack down on crime. Some of that has been rehearsed today.

I have faith in the Northern Ireland Executive and Ministers, one of whom is a member of the hon. Gentleman’s party, to do their work to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland. The Executive came together just a few weeks before covid came upon us all last year. The way in which they have worked through the last year—staying together and working together for the people of Northern Ireland—has been a phenomenal achievement and huge credit goes to all those involved. I have faith in them to do the work that is devolved to them. I will continue to support them in that and to support the PSNI to do the job that it is focused on doing: keeping everybody in Northern Ireland safe.

[Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend said, the reason for the scenes that we have seen over recent weeks are multifaceted and that means that there is not a single solution to the problems; there will have to be a holistic approach. Will he confirm that he is finding ways to bring together all partners—not just the PSNI and the Northern Ireland Executive, but the Irish Government, the European Union and civil society—to come up with a holistic strategy for bringing peace back to the streets of Belfast?