I thank the Secretary of State for giving way. My hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) will hone in and focus on this in more detail in his contribution, but there is one point that I want to raise. One of the most difficult aspects of the Belfast agreement was the decision that, if someone was convicted of a terrorist-related offence, they would serve a maximum of two years in prison. Under the proposed Bill, that will now be reduced to zero tariff—no time spent in prison. Where is the incentive in all of this for someone to come forward and to co-operate in a possible prosecution process when they know that, at the end of the day, if they just hunker down for the next five years and say nothing, there is no downside for them because they will never go to prison anyway?
Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Jeffrey M Donaldson
(Democratic Unionist Party)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 24 May 2022.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
715 c186 
Session
2022-23
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2022-06-27 17:01:35 +0100
URI
http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2022-05-24/22052420000007
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