NI Affairs Committee urged to use powers to compel disclosure of a report on compensation for victims of IRA Libya explosive attacks The High Court in Belfast 14 January, 2021 01:00
THE Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is being urged to use all available powers to compel disclosure of a report on compensation for victims of IRA attacks linked to Libyan explosives.
Lawyers representing those bereaved and injured in a series of Troubles-related atrocities have written to MPs on the cross-party scrutiny body in a bid to intensify pressure on the British Government.
The move comes ahead of the latest stage in a legal bid by victims to sue Libya for supplying Semtex to the IRA.
Any move to dilute human rights laws in the UK would threaten the post-Brexit deal on justice and security cooperation, MPs have been told.
New extradition, data sharing and law enforcement cooperation arrangements are underpinned by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), academics told a Westminster committee.
The justice and law experts cautioned the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that the EU would likely move to suspend those arrangements if the UK stepped away from the ECHR.
The convention is translated into UK domestic law under the Human Rights Act.
Last year the Government commissioned an independent review of the Act and how it is functioning.
BBC News
By Julian O Neill
Published is a downgrade when it comes to new arrangements covering policing and security.
They said the loss of real-time access to EU information systems and potentially slower extradition cases are the most glaring examples. However, I don t think that means the deal is a bad deal, said Gemma Davies from Northumbria Law School.
The academics were giving evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
They said the agreement was never going to match the co-operation experienced while the UK was a member of the EU.
Ms Davies said security downgrade is a term that has been used and that she would agree with that .
Wednesday January 13, 2021, 6:44 PM
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is very concerned about a new variant of coronavirus which has been identified in Brazil.
Mr Johnson, speaking at the Liaison Committee, insisted to senior MPs that the government was taking steps to ensure the new strain is not imported to the UK, but he did not specify what measures were being taken.
He added how experts are looking into whether new strains of the virus - including one first identified in the UK and another first spotted in South Africa - are resistant to vaccines.
He said there is no evidence so far to suggest this is the case.
BBC News
By Julian O Neill
Published
image captionMuammar Gaddafi supplied weapons, including Semtex explosives, to the IRA during the Troubles
The government is facing a new call to release a report on compensation for victims of IRA attacks in which weapons supplied by Libya were used.
It has, so far, not published the report it received in May 2020.
Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Louise Haigh has said an intolerable delay has left victims feeling abandoned .
The Labour MP said the report, authored by government-appointee William Shawcross, should be released urgently.
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has previously warned it could use powers to compel the government to make it public.