Supreme Court Dillon Judgment

Lord Alton of Liverpool Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Viscount makes an important and interesting intervention, but there are so many people who are still in such pain and who made huge compromises and sacrifices in order to deliver the Belfast/Good Friday agreement. While I appreciate that the concept of amnesty could be appealing, and there are other mechanisms that could be as appealing, there are those, including me, who want to see as many paramilitaries prosecuted as we can.

[Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, in thanking the Minister for the way she introduced her response to the Statement this afternoon, I link that with thanks to the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn MP, for the way they both engaged with the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the remedial order and the Troubles Bill. Given that scrutiny on those things continues, can she promise us, given that the remedial order was agreed by the committee on the basis of urgency, that it will be expedited and brought forward without any further delay, and that the new amendments, a tranche of which she alluded to in her remarks, will also be brought to the committee to see before it publishes its report on the Bill? Lastly, in the light of Peter May’s recent report raising concerns about the corporate effectiveness and cultural health of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, will the Government use the forthcoming Bill to address any of the issues identified in the report, enabling the commission to deliver high-quality Article 2-compliant resolutions?