Gregory Stafford
Main Page: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)Department Debates - View all Gregory Stafford's debates with the Northern Ireland Office
(1 day, 16 hours ago)
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John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)
Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
Hilary Benn
The hon. Gentleman says “dragged back” to court. The only circumstances in which a veteran, or anyone else, appears in court is if they are charged with an offence. He will know perfectly well what the figures show about prosecutions in the 27 years since the Good Friday agreement. Here we are talking about coroners’ inquests. A small number will be restarted because they were already in train and were stopped by the last legacy Act. The rest will go into the sifting process governed by the Solicitor General. We think that we have a fair and reasonable framework that we will put in place to ensure that veterans are protected and properly looked after.
Gregory Stafford
On 25 September, the Prime Minister assured the BBC that veterans would receive protections not afforded to paramilitaries, so can the Secretary of State confirm which of the statutory protections will apply solely to veterans? Or is it the case that they will also extend to paramilitaries?
Hilary Benn
I will give the hon. Gentleman one example, which involves the representation of veterans on the statutory advisory group that will be established, drawing on the experience of Operation Kenova, allowing the voice of veterans to be heard. This will be covered by clause 8 of the legislation.