Speeches by Smith.

“Three hundred of my constituents signed the petition. SEND is a major issue in North Northumberland and, over the summer, 130 families completed a consultation that I carried out on the issue. I will share the information with the Secretary of State in due course. The conclusion was unanimous: the system has to change.…”

“I abhor the methods of Palestine Action, and indeed any violence in the course of protest, but I understand that four groups have been de-proscribed in the last 20 years. I am sure that the aim is for all banned groups to de-escalate and become legitimate protest groups, so what steps or evidence would be required for …”

“Welcome, Secretary of State and all of you. Returning to ICRIR and the structure of it, you told us in June that you are actively considering the proposal to split the investigative and information retrieval functions of ICRIR into two separate firewalled bodies, as originally envisaged in the Stormont House agreement.…”

“I will perhaps come back to that question of verification in a moment. In terms of the firewalling of these two things, it was envisaged in the Stormont House agreement that there would be a presumption of inadmissibility for investigations or criminal prosecutions in the information recovery part.”

“There is no question, Secretary of State, but that the uncovering of truths, the sharing of information and the pursuit of justice are all part of the process of reconciliation. You have said previously to this Committee that it is not the role of the state to impose reconciliation on anyone, which is absolutely correc…”

“My final question is sticking with information recovery. Part of the problem over the last few years since the legacy Act was introduced is a perception in some quarters of inequity between those who may be subject to information recovery or the processes that the legacy Act introduced, especially in relation to state …”

“Would that be something that you continue to envisage?”

“I am grateful for the leadership that the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for the Middle East showed over the summer in their visit to Syria and in engaging with the Syrian Government, especially on the violence that took place in Suwayda. As UK special envoy for freedom of religion or belief, I was particularly wor…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the role of freedom of religion or belief in UK foreign policy. It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for granting the debate, and to all colleagues who have joined me to discuss this urgent, …”

“I thank the right hon. Member for that point, for his work as Foreign Secretary to bring about the role that I now inhabit, and for his focus on freedom of religion or belief. I agree—I will come on to say more about this—that we should be humble yet bold about what we can offer with our values and should not shy away …”

“I am sure the Leader of the House will agree that grassroots community football clubs, such as North Sunderland and Berwick Rangers in my constituency, play a vital role in the development of elite footballers, such as Lucy Bronze, who hopefully tonight will go “Supersonic” in her game for the Lionesses in the quarter-…”

“Thank you, Mrs Harris—I am mindful of the time. I thank all Members for the spirit of the debate. I mentioned earlier that this is a cross-party issue, and that was evident here today. I thank the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt) for his role in shaping this work. I also place on the record my …”

“In my six months in this role as envoy, a repeated refrain has been that we must not forget the Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang. I was very pleased to take part in an all-party parliamentary group meeting with human rights champions from Xinjiang in the last few weeks. The hon. Member is right: we must ensure that our procu…”

“Will the right hon. Member give way?”

“I have to declare, having set up another peacemaking programme in Northern Ireland myself and done a master’s degree in reconciliation studies, that the legacy Act was very much not a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission. The right hon. Member is talking about the equating of terrorists on one hand a…”

“My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time. As hon. Members have said, it is a testament to the importance of the issue that we are all here this evening. The Minister can relax as on this occasion I will not talk about the A1—I will in future—but about the northern bypass in Morpeth, which has a 60 mph zone. …”

“So that is under way. I will ask my final question and I think Chris wants to come in as well. I’m a bit of a one-trick pony on this; I keep coming back to the issue of reconciliation, because I think it is so important in Northern Ireland, as recognised in the Act and in the setting up of ICRIR. Philosophically perhap…”

“Secretary of State, Minister of State and guests—good to see you again. We have just been talking about specific cases and inquiries. I would like to stick with legacy but move to the different case of Sean Brown, which we have discussed before. You previously advised the family of Sean Brown to seek an investigation i…”

“Thank you for that answer. I will mention a specific point, and then ask a final, broader question. There is a role within the Act regarding designated persons to carry out memorialisation activities, who would be key to the process of memorialising the legacy of the Troubles. Is there a process in place yet, or how do…”

“If we could stick with the broader sense of legacy, I am thinking about the other aspects of ICRIR. Thinking of the Legacy Act 2023, when do you intend to commence part 4 of the Act, including initiatives in oral history memorialisation and academic research?”