Orders of the Day — Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning (Amendment) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:04 pm on 17 December 2001.

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Photo of Steve McCabe Steve McCabe Labour, Birmingham, Hall Green 6:04, 17 December 2001

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for setting the record straight. I must have slept through that part of his speech. Were I judging it on quantity, I would recognise the number of references that he made to one group in particular.

Back in July 1999, Mr. Trimble said of the decommissioning scheme:

"It does not refer to timetables. . . there is no explicit reference in the decommissioning scheme to a timetable."

He went on to say that the decommissioning scheme states:

"'The Commission may make such arrangements as it considers appropriate to facilitate the decommissioning of arms.'"

He continued:

"I repeat:

'such arrangements at it considers appropriate to facilitate' decommissioning."—[Hansard, 13 July 1999; Vol. 335, c. 189.]

I welcomed that statement by the right hon. Gentleman, as the issue of timetables has bedevilled the process.

Listening to the hon. Member for Grantham and Stamford, I came to the conclusion that the Opposition amendment is not a reasoned amendment. It does not seek to alter the process. It does not recognise that we are dealing with an amnesty. It is an attempt to renege on the agreement. It represents the end of bipartisanship. I am shocked and horrified by the comments of the hon. Gentleman and of Mr. Francois, who is no longer in his place.

The hon. Member for Grantham and Stamford said— I listened carefully to this part of his speech—that nothing had happened in the first two years of decommissioning. I recall that on 18 September the LVF decommissioned a small quantity of weapons, which General de Chastelain described as a significant event. To my recollection, no one queried those remarks.