Northern Ireland

Steven Bonnar Excerpts

Tuesday 13th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Obviously, we need to understand all the issues that have come together to lead people to think that violence is the solution, completely unacceptably, and work through that with the political parties and the community groups in Northern Ireland. She is absolutely right: there is no excuse for what we saw the other week. It was utterly reprehensible. As I have said before and as others have rightly said, our thoughts are with the police, whose focus is on keeping people safe.

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

The abdication of any responsibility for the scenes that we have seen on the streets of Northern Ireland by this Government and this Secretary of State is shameful. The Prime Minister made consistent promises that there would be no border down the Irish sea. The Prime Minister also persistently threatened to break international law, repeatedly undermining the Good Friday agreement. The nature of politics towards the north of Ireland under this Government as a consequence of Brexit has been, at best, regretful. Does the Secretary of State understand the complexities—I have my concerns—and will he take responsibility for the repeated failures of his party in government?

[Brandon Lewis]

If the hon. Gentleman looks at what I have said this afternoon, I think he will see that I have proven quite the opposite in acknowledging the multifaceted issues that led to the violence we saw the other week, not that that excuses or legitimises in any way the reprehensible behaviour we saw from some and the encouragement of young people, which I find particularly despicable. It is good to see, if I heard his question correctly, that he now fully supports us in ensuring that there are no borders. I therefore look forward to his support if we have to take further action and for any further action we take to deliver on that in the way we promised people in Northern Ireland: with a pragmatic and flexible approach to the Northern Ireland protocol.