Mr Calvin Bailey

Today I am going to try to speak as freely as I can about something in which I believe passionately. I will explain why I believe in the principles that underpin the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which is why I consider it necessary that we keep working on the specifics during its next phase in Parliament. I will try to explain some of the complexity and emotion, and why I find it despicable that some Members, on both sides of the Chamber, seek to gain political advantage from it. It is for this reason that I will be circumspect about accepting interventions. I love this country. I am proudly British, and I am prepared to fight and die for the protection of the principles and fundamentals that define this country, the most important of which is the rule of law and the principle that the law is applied evenly to all citizens. These principles and fundamentals have been hard won, most recently during our deconstruction of our post-imperial self from 1945 to the late 1970s and early ’80s. I suggest that some people should reflect on that, because it was a time when our behaviour overseas, and the way that we behaved in places where we had sovereignty and where our legal situation was distinct from the law as exercised at home in the UK, was different. That is important, because when the UK faced an internal crisis that was similar to the crises that it sought to manage elsewhere, it used military support to the civil authority to address it. In my opinion, it should have declared a state of emergency. Under such a state, the Government can enact powers that they are unable to enact during peacetime, the most important and pertinent of which is the ability to deploy their own military on their own streets in the protection of their own civilians. The issuance of such orders brings with it clear and defined parameters, under which those acting in the supplementary capacity of the police have the right and authority to use legal force on behalf of the state in an attempt to save lives. That never happened. Instead, it was done through emergency legislation and security powers. What never happened was the creation of a coherent, unified legal framework that was equivalent to that of civilian policing. It is for this reason that those asked to act on behalf of the state have been left in turmoil, because the state inadequately defined the parameters under which its servants would act, and the protections and responsibilities that the state would provide for those actors if they acted in line with the law and the derivations provided to support them in the troubles. Immunity from prosecution is not something that we are being asked to provide for our police officers. At no point have I heard those arguing for the maintenance of the failed legacy Act say that the police officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary should be given similar immunity, because the context in which they were asked to act was known and the parameters for doing so were clearly defined. For our soldiers acting as police officers, the parameters were not clearly defined. I was going to share some of my experiences as a military person and some of the things that have shaped my view of the world, but what I would say—