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Proceeding contribution from Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 15 July 2009. It occurred during Adjournment debate on Abortion Law (Northern Ireland).


Abortion Law (Northern Ireland)

I thank my hon. Friend for that point. It is also interesting that out of the 18 Members of Parliament for Northern Ireland constituencies not one has signed the early-day motion of the hon. Member for Reading, West. Of course he pointed out that that was because we were political pygmies. That is slur against pygmies, because I think that they are quite nice people, and to suggest that is rather insulting. Of course, contradictory messages are coming out, as rightly pointed out by the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan). For example, the hon. Member for Reading, West suggested to us that we had not the guts to take the hard decisions, because we were behind our electorate: that our electorate were well ahead of us and wanted us to do it, but we were not willing. However, the hon. Member for Keighley (Mrs. Cryer) suggested that politicians were not doing so because it would affect their vote. With the greatest respect, Labour Members cannot have it both ways—they usually try to, but some of us here are not willing to let them. They should not try to bamboozle us with nonsense. [Interruption.] I was elected to the House to represent my constituents. I assure the House that when the Northern Ireland constituency representatives here today face their electorate, they will discover whether the electorate are backing them.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
496 c85WH 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
Subjects
Devolved matters Abortion Women Equality Northern Ireland
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk