Hilary Benn meets Declan Morgan and vows to retain legacy act information recovery body - video Dailymotion

Hilary Benn meets Declan Morgan and vows to retain legacy act information recovery body

Transcript

00:00Set out in the King's speech, the government is committed to repeal and replace the Legacy Act.

00:04As well as scrapping conditional immunity, we will set out steps to allow trouble-era inquests

00:09and civil claims to resume. We will consult with all interested parties on a way forward

00:15in a way that can obtain support of victims and survivors and comply with our human rights

00:20obligations.

00:21Bob Blighton

00:22I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his appointment and for his answer.

00:27Clearly, any delays will in-build a legacy for the victims and their families who have

00:34waited a long time for closure on these particular issues. I understand absolutely

00:39the need to create a consensus across Northern Ireland for what is going to be proposed,

00:44but could he set out for the House the timeline and the plan for actually achieving that,

00:51and also agree to come back to the House and update the House when that plan is ready?

00:56I am very happy to give the hon. Member that assurance about keeping the House

01:00informed and reporting to it on my plans. I can say to him that, as far as the independent

01:05commission is concerned, the Government have decided that we will retain it, because the

01:11Stormont House agreement, which we say we want to return to the principles that it set out,

01:16envisages both information recovery and continued investigation. Those two functions are in effect

01:21combined in the independent commission. I met Sir Declan Morgan yesterday to talk about how that

01:28work can be taken forward. The commission is now open for business, and it is available

01:32to families to approach to find an answer that many of them have been looking for for so long.