Northern Ireland Parades Commission
Chris Bryant Excerpts(2 days, 14 hours ago)
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The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Chris Bryant)
I wish to update the House on the recent High Court decision regarding Portadown District LOL No.1’s application to the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland, as well as the steps I am taking in light of the ruling.
In July 2026 a member of the Portadown Orange Lodge sought a judicial review challenging the Parades Commission’s determination to restrict the return leg of the annual Drumcree parade along Garvaghy Road in Portadown. On 25 August 2026, the High Court in Belfast quashed the Parades Commission’s determination. The commission did not contest the proceedings, due to procedural issues identified in relation to how the decision was recorded. Specifically, not every commissioner had approved the final text of the commission’s determination.
The Parades Commission performs a vital and complex quasi-judicial role in what can often be sensitive and difficult circumstances. Over the past three decades, Northern Ireland has made significant progress in easing tensions surrounding parades. Today, the vast majority of parades take place peacefully and without community tension, with fewer than 5% of the nearly 4,000 annual parades deemed sensitive.
However, the recent High Court ruling has highlighted clear procedural defects. The Commission must have the fullest possible confidence of all communities across Northern Ireland. I met with the commissioners on 1 September to discuss their response. Having considered it, I am satisfied that the issues raised are being taken seriously and that progress is being made.
To provide public assurance, support the commission and ensure its operational framework is legally sound and procedurally fair, I have ordered an independent judge-led review into the commission’s decision-making procedures and organisational governance. This will strengthen the commission’s immediate and future work. In the meantime, the current commissioners have my full backing. It is in the public interest that they continue their critical functions as we work together to restore public trust in this vital institution.
Scope and Governance of the Review
Progress on the judge-led review will be monitored directly by Baroness Anderson, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, who will report back to me.
Although the terms of reference are still being finalised, the review will concentrate on the commission’s decision-making procedures—placing particular emphasis on ensuring that decisions are evidence-based, transparent, robust and fair in order to eradicate the procedural defects that were identified.
The legal framework of the parading sector, as set out in the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998, remains outside the scope of this review.
The review will commence this month, with the final report submitted to myself and the chair of the commission within two months of the review commencing. Following the submission of the final report, Baroness Anderson will maintain direct ministerial oversight of the implementation programme to embed any recommended measures, with a progress report to be published before the end of the year.
I have also instructed officials to launch a public appointments process shortly to appoint commissioners. This is standard practice, as one commissioner has recently resigned and the remaining commissioners are approaching the end of their terms of office.
Whatever the shortcomings highlighted in the High Court ruling, there is no justification for anyone stepping outside the law. I urge all communities to remain committed to the lawful notification of parades, to conduct all processions and protests lawfully, and to support the work of this review as we strengthen the commission for the future.
[HCWS306]
Oral Answers to Questions
Chris Bryant Excerpts(4 years, 4 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
Normally I would not, but I think this is an important matter, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for letting me know at the start of questions that he wanted to catch my eye. Although the issue he has raised is not strictly a point of order, I am of course alarmed to hear what he has reported to the Chamber. Rather than give a knee-jerk reaction now, I am sure that the Government will rapidly be assessing the implications of this move. I am therefore asking them to keep me and the House authorities briefed on this very important issue, and I shall make sure that Members are kept informed as appropriate.
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I am distressed that I am not on the list—I am also slightly surprised. I can assume only that the Russian Federation accepts that everything I have said about President Putin over the past few years is true: he is a barbarous villain and we must make sure that he fails.
Mr Speaker
I am sure the hon. Gentleman may now have got himself put on that list.
Oral Answers to Questions
Chris Bryant Excerpts(6 years, 5 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
As the House will know, there is already a coalition of British manufacturers that are now working together at speed to supply the ventilators that we need. We already have 8,000, and we are moving rapidly upwards, and I will keep the House informed of developments.
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his invitation. I am happy to consider his invitation to Rhondda and will take it up.
Chris Bryant
What I really hope is that the Prime Minister will look at the whole coronavirus crisis through the eyes of the Rhondda, because we have a large number of sole traders, chippies, electricians and plumbers. We have a lot of people in very insecure employment. We have got lots of people who are elderly and people who are on very low incomes and have next to no savings. Many people have already been laid off this week or are worried that they are going to be laid off in the next fortnight, so we really do need the Prime Minister to address these matters.
If I am honest, I do not want to be partisan, but it does feel as if we are a bit of an afterthought. I really beg the Prime Minister to look through the eyes of the Rhondda, because I think he would then double sick pay so that it is a sensible figure. I think he would introduce something like a summer version of the winter fuel allowance so that the elderly get some help. I think he would probably introduce some kind of VAT holiday for sole traders. I know he hopes, and we all hope, that the whole of the country will bounce back quickly after this, but I say to him that after the floods and the poverty that we have historically suffered in the Rhondda, communities like mine will find it phenomenally difficult to bounce back if he does not take that kind of action now.
The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman speaks powerfully and passionately and, in my view, wholly rightly for the people of the Rhondda. I can tell him that our thoughts in this Government are with the people of the entire country in helping everyone to get through this virus. We will do, as I say, whatever it takes to support business and, as I said in my earlier answer to the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition, also to support individuals and families. I welcome the agreement of the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford), the leader of the Scottish National party that we should do it on a cross-party basis.
Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill (Business of the House)
Chris Bryant Excerpts(7 years, 10 months ago)
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Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
The point is that we should do things properly. It is an established principle in this House, and in this Parliament, that we normally have three Readings, a Committee stage, and Report, with gaps in between, so that people can consider matters properly. The only time that we suspend that is for emergency legislation. In all honesty, I do not see why this is emergency legislation. By definition, it is only emergency legislation normally when there is no controversy; there is clearly substantial controversy here, which is why we should have a proper Business of the House motion to allow us to consider amendments that have not been tabled by Ministers.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for what he has just said. His reference to a proper Business of the House motion is the view that he has volunteered, but I say this as much for the benefit of people attending to our proceedings and in the name of their intelligibility as for any other reason that it is precisely because I judged that this matter should be capable of amendment, even at the last minute, that I selected the manuscript amendment, so I know perfectly well how to operate in these matters. I am very glad that we are in agreement on that—[Interruption.] No, no, I appreciate that. The hon. Gentleman does not need to be touchy about it. I was merely claiming credit for selecting the amendment.
Northern Ireland: Recent Violence
Chris Bryant Excerpts(8 years, 1 month ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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Mr Speaker
That is an extraordinary and almost a novel development in the House of Commons—a Member who deliberately eschews repetition.
Mr Speaker
Is it the second time this week? The hon. Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove) will be in “The Guinness Book of Records”. Of that I think we can rest assured.
Mr Speaker
Possibly for many things, as the hon. Gentleman chunters from a sedentary position.
Supreme Court Ruling: Abortion in Northern Ireland
Chris Bryant Excerpts(8 years, 2 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Karen Bradley
My hon. Friend is right that the last time this matter was debated in Stormont—in 2016—the Bill was rejected. That is part of the reason why we have this case before us today. I have spoken to all the parties about this matter, and I will continue to do so.
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
A British Government in Westminster should not abrogate to themselves powers willy-nilly, but why are the Government adamantine about not intervening when human rights issues affect British citizens? It was the same in Bermuda: the Government refused to say anything about same-sex marriage being banned, but the Supreme Court in Bermuda decided yesterday that the British Government were wrong and that same-sex marriage should be reintroduced. What will happen here is that the Government will keep on losing legal battles. In the end, human rights are indivisible, so we do have to act and intervene.
Karen Bradley
We need to go through the judgment, which is detailed, and consider it carefully. The way to resolve this issue has to be with Stormont; that has to be the place in which to resolve this.