Robin Swann
Main Page: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)Department Debates - View all Robin Swann's debates with the Cabinet Office
(1 day, 17 hours ago)
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The Prime Minister
It is important to involve Israelis and Palestinians across the board, from all communities, in the physical rebuilding as well as the rebuilding of the relationships that were in place just over two years ago, which held at least the prospect of a better future for the next generation. We need to rebuild that on all fronts.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
I congratulate the Prime Minister on getting us to this point. The Labour Government’s role in decommissioning in Northern Ireland is not as complete as portrayed. In a memo of 17 January 2003, an adviser to the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said:
“The IRA will never be able to account for all their weapons or retrieve them. What we should perhaps aim for is a few more big symbolic acts of decommissioning, and then declare that the process is complete…”
That adviser was a certain Jonathan Powell, now the National Security Adviser. So will the Prime Minister give assurances that, should the Government be given such a role, they will not be as lax?
The Prime Minister
The work on decommissioning in Northern Ireland was really important, and that is the basis on which we have put forward our offer to stand ready with others to work on decommissioning in the middle east.