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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I have already explained why the percentage went down over the period of the troubles. It would have increased anyhow as the troubles diminished. The hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) argued that the RUC had to be done away with because, in some cases, warnings were not given. That denigrates officers who did an excellent job over many years of terrorist activity and had to make very difficult decisions that that they will have to live with for a long time. He also suggested that we could have done away with the RUC entirely and started with a clean sheet, and that because we did not do that, 50:50 is justified. Anyone who believes that one day we can have a police service and the next day we can have no police service, and yet still have efficient policing, is living in an Alice in Wonderland world.