Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts
Wednesday 25th January 2012

(12 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. There are far too many very noisy private conversations taking place in the Chamber. I want to hear Mr Gregory Campbell.

Gregory Campbell Portrait Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)
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Does the Secretary of State accept that part of the problem in dealing with the past and trying to get the parties around the table is that one party was party to the major problem of the past—the Provisional IRA. It will not own up to the part it played in creating the past—rather, it tries to deem everyone equal, innocent and guilty alike.

Owen Paterson Portrait Mr Paterson
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I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question and he touches on the problem of arriving at uniform consensus. We were elected on a platform of no more costly and open-ended inquiries, because we do not like the asymmetry of applying an extraordinary intensity of effort and expense to a very small number of cases. That is why I am trying to find a broader approach, working with all local parties.