Supreme Court Dillon Judgment

Lord Murphy of Torfaen Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

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

The noble Lord raises an incredibly important point. I myself visited one of the sites earlier this year, where they were looking for one of the disappeared. I have never had that kind of experience before, while I stood on the side of a bog while people were looking for a body. We will continue to fund the commission and we will do everything we can to make sure that the structures exist for the families of the disappeared, including the family of Robert Nairac but also others, until we get answers for all of them.

[Lord Murphy of Torfaen (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for the work she has done on this hugely important issue, including in the previous Parliament, when we considered the legacy Bill, as it then was. It was very well-meaning but ultimately was not successful because it did not have sufficient all-party support in Northern Ireland. Can she assure me that, before the Bill comes up the Corridor to this House, she will have talked to all the political parties in Northern Ireland, represented here and in Belfast, and that she can get consensus on that? Unless we get consensus, that will not work either.

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

My noble friend has just used the word “consensus” in relation to Northern Ireland politicians. With the best of efforts—looking at the noble Lord, Lord Caine—while I consider myself not to be a bad politician, I am not sure that I have those diplomatic skills that will deliver for everybody. I say that as someone who just called the noble Lord “my noble friend”.

Having said that, we are working cross-party with all key parties. The noble Lord is absolutely right. There is one part of our politics that genuinely should not be party-political in a GB sense: the politics of Northern Ireland and making sure that peace is sustainable in Northern Ireland and that we are doing what we can collectively and taking the responsibility of being the main political parties in the United Kingdom to deliver for the people of NI as we do for every other corner of the country. Noble Lords will appreciate that there are always challenges in this space, but I will try to be as charming as possible to deliver what I can in getting a level of support, as my honourable friend in the other place, the Secretary of State, is doing too.