Speeches by Benn.

“No, it is not.”

“Since I took up post, I have been making the case to the Treasury, given my job, to get the best outcome for funding from the Northern Ireland Executive. Policing is devolved. Those are decisions for the Executive to take. There are those who come to me and say, “Can you ringfence this bit of money? Can you ringfence t…”

“It is a very large question, if we are going back 800 years. There is a long story. I was a student at school when I first encountered the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, if I was paying attention at the time. When you subsequently come to learn what went on in relation to the suppression of people’s culture, their …”

“I agree with every single word of that. Of course there was an alternative, because the alternative eventually appeared in the wake of the Good Friday agreement, which has brought extraordinary progress to Northern Ireland society in the years since it was signed. Going back to the earlier question about information re…”

“I agree with that.”

“I am wholly opposed to the rewriting of history. When I recently visited the wonderful exhibition on the Troubles at the Ulster Museum, there was a phrase in one of the panels that came out and struck me. It says, “We have a shared past, but we do not have a shared memory”. I thought that was really a very good way of …”

“I am certainly looking to change the name of the commission, which is one of the points that have been put to you in the evidence that you have taken. I accept that argument. It is not the primary focus. If the commission does its job successfully, it will assist the process, but its work does not have a particular rec…”

“I read in the evidence you have taken that there are those who have said, “Is there going to be a proper legal definition?” I do not see how legislation can define what reconciliation is. Indeed, when I met a man whose brother had been murdered in the most brutal circumstances, he said to me, “How can there be legislat…”

“I can only respond to that by saying I want the maximum possible disclosure to enable families to find answers, but there are considerations of national security. There is no running away from those. All Governments have an obligation to give very serious weight in deciding ultimately what is disclosed. That is what ha…”

“No, it is not a veto because it can be challenged by way of judicial review, just like any other decision of a Government Minister or a public body. If it can be challenged in the courts, ultimately it is the courts that decide.”

“First, as I have already pointed out, the commission gets full, unredacted disclosure. Secondly, we will amend the regime to ensure that it is consistent with other established mechanisms, which would seem to me to meet the issue that the Court of Appeal raised. There are wider issues to do with the court judgment that…”

“I completely understand the frustration, the pain and the suffering of those families—I have met a number of them, including the Brown family—in still not knowing answers after all of these years. There is a particular reason why we are appealing in the case of the terrible murder of Sean Brown. The issue of principle,…”

“I would say this. First of all, the Government’s policy is that we want the maximum disclosure to provide answers consistent with national security. Secondly, Government Ministers have a responsibility for national security. They are set out quite clearly. They are ones that I take extremely seriously. Thirdly, in the …”

“I cannot. They were his words; they were not mine. As you say, he walked them back the following day. It comes back to the point that I made earlier. It is not helpful to focus on individuals. There has been a difference of view about how PII should be approached between the Government and the chief constable, but I do…”

“As I understand it, on the particular facts of that case, the court decided it was an abuse of process. We can all read the judgment and see the circumstances of that particular case. To the argument that has been made, including in the Westminster Hall debate, that on-the-run letters, letters of comfort or whatever yo…”

“To be clear, having no need to travel would relate to inquests or hearings of the commission. If I may, you have raised a number of points in putting that question. Let us go back to the start. In the case of Mr Downey—this is a matter of public record—the court reached its verdict in relation to the Hyde Park bombing,…”

“Yes, it is a Government policy, but it is being queried in the Thompson case. I have no idea, of course, what the Supreme Court will say, but the Government’s view is that it would be sensible to have the benefit of that judgment before making a final decision in relation to the request that the Kenova inquiry made of …”

“You are asking me to presume what the Government’s decision would be after the Supreme Court judgment, which, though you kindly invite me to do so, I am not going to do before the Select Committee today. I have said to Sir Iain in my reply that the Government will return to this matter after the judgment.”

“This is a very important question and there are two aspects to it. The commission has two functions. One is investigative, where it thinks there is a case that it can investigate, but it is also to provide information and answers for families. There is great benefit in having the two things together in the commission. …”

“Yes.”