Member

Secondly, I come to inquests and the closure of the legacy commission. Government amendment 50 would remove the Secretary of State’s power under clause 85 to facilitate inquests after the commission closes. The Secretary of State has had an exchange with the right hon. Member for Goole and Pocklington (David Davis) on that issue. For families, an inquest is not simply another investigation; it is a public judicial process through which evidence can be tested, state action scrutinised and the circumstances of a loved one’s death properly established. The Ballymurphy and Springhill inquests demonstrate the importance of that process, particularly where families have struggled for decades to establish the truth.