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Human Rights

We are talking at cross purposes here. The difference is that the situation in Northern Ireland developed over a long time; there was no sudden single event for which that approach was necessary. Those involved were dealing with communities that were entrenched over many years—in fact, for my entire lifetime, until recently. We are talking here about individual protests that, as we say, are mostly peaceable. Sometimes those protests escalate, but who is able to communicate best on the ground? It should be our police. According to my hon. Friend's model, at what point would it be right to bring in a mediator? The fact that a mediator might be available could even escalate the problems further. We have the right approach and, as we set out in the White Paper, we are all about communicating, not de-escalating.