Brian Kingston
North Belfast · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“As a DUP member of the Justice Committee, I welcome the Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill moving to Second Stage. As other Members have mentioned, we are currently handling three substantial Bills at Justice Committee: the Justice Bill, the amendments on which we completed voting on earlier today after seven days of debate; the Criminal…”
“We recognise, however, that the commissioner is not to be an appeal mechanism for when, for example, the outcome of a trial is considered to be unsatisfactory, such as when an unduly lenient sentence is handed down.”
“The special measures include ensuring that an alleged perpetrator is not allowed to cross-examine the victim of the alleged offence, including in sexual crime cases. <BR /> <BR />We heard comments from the Sinn Féin Member for Mid Ulster in praise of her party's support for victims' human rights.”
“We are aware that the trial process often focuses more on the defendant who is charged with an offence than it does on the victims of the alleged crime. Victims must be at the heart of the justice system, not peripheral to it.”
“We welcome the fact that, through the legislation, the post will be formally established and regulated. <BR /> <BR />The principal aim of the commissioner is to promote the interests of victims and witnesses. The commissioner is intended to have a strategic role rather than to become involved in individual cases. Indeed, clause 8 states:”
“Although the Minister notified us a week ago that he would make his statement, it was disappointing that we received the text of it less than an hour before he was scheduled to give it in the Chamber, which did not help us with scrutiny.”
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“The Department of Justice has stated that prostitution and human trafficking in Northern Ireland are linked to organised crime networks that exploit vulnerable people for profit. Lord Morrow's 2015 Act adopted the Nordic model of criminalising the purchase of sexual services while decriminalising those who sell sex. That model is widely recognised as a means to reduce human sex trafficking. <BR /> <BR />A Sky News investigation in June 2025 found thousands of potential indicators of sexual exploitation on two of the UK's most prominent adult services websites. It analysed 50,000 advertisements, which revealed a high concentration of red flags linked to organised exploitation, including repeated use of the same contact numbers and duplicated text across adverts for different women in different geographical locations.”
“Some say that prostitution is an adult choice. Some even claim that it is, in some way, empowering for some women as a source of income. In the vast majority of cases, however, we know that it is the exact opposite of empowering. Women's bodies should never be treated as a commodity for sale. When women are trafficked, often under false pretences, and forced or coerced into prostitution, that is modern slavery of the worst kind. Every effort must be made to bring that to an end. <BR /> <BR />At last week's event, one speaker said how she had been a prostitute some years previously. It made a very strong impression on me to hear her speak of the physical, emotional and mental damage that that caused her and that endures to this day.”
“We like to think that our lives have been improved by modern technology and the online world of the internet, and, in many ways, that is true. Modern technology and innovations can also be used in negative and harmful ways, however. Our motion highlights the operation of commercial sexual exploitation online and the human trafficking of women and girls facilitated through pimping websites, also known as adult services websites. The matter was raised at the event held here in Parliament Buildings on Monday of last week that was organised by the charity Christian Action, Research and Education and the new all-party group on modern slavery and sexual exploitation. It marked the 10th anniversary of Lord Morrow's Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act. <BR /> <BR />Our motion:”
“Minister, were you aware that the measure was going to be announced on the BBC's breakfast news this morning, or were you, like the rest of us, somewhat taken by surprise?”
“Minister, businesses might expect and understand a small change in rateable value and rates, but Hospitality Ulster tells us that some pubs and hotels have seen increases of 300%, 400% and 500% in their rateable value. We will quiz LPS officials at the Finance Committee on Wednesday, but have you sought an explanation from LPS for those massive increases? How are they justified?”
“Will the Minister outline more about the charities (amendment) Bill, including a timeline for its progression and when the Assembly will have the opportunity to scrutinise it?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer and that detail on the roll-out in north Belfast. I welcome the roll-out of the multidisciplinary team. It is a great model and a good use of the transformation fund to bring in those extra services. I think that the Minister mentioned physiotherapy, mental health practitioners and social workers. <BR /> <BR />The Minister mentioned, I think, 21 practices and 18 in the next year. Has the detail about what extra professionals will go into which GP services been worked out? Were all GP services offered the opportunity to participate? I am happy to receive that information in writing if he does not have it to hand, but perhaps he has a bit more now.”
“I thank the deputy First Minister for her statement. It is welcome that the theme at the summit of the British-Irish Council was the creative industries, which is a particular strength and growth sector of the Northern Ireland economy. I am sure that the deputy First Minister pointed out that, as part of the confidence-and-supply agreement, it was the DUP that secured funding for the city and growth deals, which are a major funder of Studio Ulster. It was a pleasure to attend the launch of Studio Ulster last year along with the deputy First Minister and others. Will she say more about how Studio Ulster is a world-class facility and outline its significance in driving forward our creative industries?”
“To those who question the official status of the Ulster banner, I say this: it is indisputably established by custom and practice as the flag of Northern Ireland. We refute the suggestion that it is a controversial flag. Against the red cross, which has represented Ulster, the flag includes the red hand of Ulster, a six-pointed star for the six counties and a crown signifying our place in the United Kingdom. Given that the British monarch is the head of the Commonwealth, it can hardly be deemed controversial for the Commonwealth Games. Northern Ireland takes part only because it is part of a Commonwealth nation: the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />We will continue to speak against and oppose the proposal. Keep the Ulster banner for teams representing Northern Ireland, as it always has done.”
“In this political institution — the Assembly — it is a fundamental principle that cross-community consent is required to make any change on controversial matters, such as those in the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (FICT) report. In the absence of consensus on alternative arrangements, the current arrangements should continue. I know that certain people in Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland have been pushing the issue for some time, but there is no political mandate for CGNI to impose its own change on national representation. <BR /> <BR />CGNI operates under funding from Sport NI, which is accountable to the Department for Communities. The Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons, has written to the chief executive of CGNI, stating:”
“The proposal by Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland (CGNI) to stop using the Northern Ireland flag is deeply political and totally unacceptable to the DUP. To remove the flag of our country from such a high-profile squad representing Northern Ireland would not be a neutral act and would damage community relations. <BR /> <BR />The Northern Ireland flag, known as the "Ulster banner" and, to many, as the "Ulster flag", has been used for many decades by Northern Ireland teams at the Commonwealth Games, as well as in many individual sports, including football, golf, darts, snooker and netball. In all those sports, we see people from all religious and community backgrounds ready to compete under the Ulster banner when representing Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Any proposed change is overtly political and should be left to elected politicians.”
“I thank the Minister for her statement. We all share in the huge disappointment about the withdrawal of services by the Criminal Bar Association and the impact that that is having on people who cannot otherwise afford legal representation. <BR /> <BR />Further to her previous answer, what options are being considered as alternative models for the delivery of services if the withdrawal of services continues long-term and does not conclude swiftly?”
“The Minister will be aware that early learning and childcare is a Programme for Government priority. The Education Minister announced a budget of £55 million for early learning and childcare in the current financial year, 2025-26. As indicated in annex C to the statement, the budget for next year, 2026-27, is again £55 million. Is that a real-terms cut, and how does that tally with the PFG commitment?”
“I have heard differing claims about what is paid to taxi drivers to transport children: some rates are exceptionally high, and others are more modest. Through the review that the Minister is pushing the EA to carry out, will he seek to ensure that rates are standardised as well as that they provide good value to public purse?”
“Minister, do you commit to publishing all records that are kept by your Department in which the offer of resignation from the Police Ombudsman is mentioned?”
“The allocation and reallocation of over £290 million is to be welcomed and will relieve many pressures. You said, Minister, that £104·2 million had been allocated to pay award costs, and your statement also highlighted the fact that, across four Departments, up to £150 million is needed for pay awards. From what you said earlier, it seems that the health and policing pay awards will be met in full. Can you provide the clarity that workers across the four Departments are seeking as to what they can expect?”
“Will you ask officials to check whether the two websites are giving a consistent message about the temporary exemptions?”
“Unfortunately, the introduction of the emergency measures speaks to a lack of capacity in the MOT testing system. Will the Minister ask her officials to check that Government websites give a consistent online message? When I tried in October to check my MOT status on GOV.UK, it told me that the MOT would expire in December, as I thought. When I went to the nidirect website to book an MOT test, after I went through the process, it told me that I could not book a test because it was not due until 2026. Having got a different message from nidirect, I had to check that that was correct when I looked up the information —”
“I thank the Minister for his statement progressing a new disability strategy. A disability forum has been long called for by the deaf and disabled community, and I welcome its inclusion in the statement. The Minister said that he is aiming for it to be in place in 12 months. Will he provide details of the recruitment process for those who would be keen to get involved?”
“There have been issues with securing planning permission. Will the deputy First Minister advise the House on her commitment to delivering that much-needed project?”
“As the deputy First Minister knows, Urban Villages funding has been allocated in North Belfast to the much-needed replacement of the Sunningdale community centre.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Given the widespread concern about the outbreak, will the Minister consider, as a belt-and-braces approach, restricting movements of animals from Europe?”
“Sinn Féin needs to confirm which it is. Both are serious matters. <BR /> <BR />The truth matters. The public expect those who make the rules to follow them. We will continue to expose the shameful cover-up.”
“That is a total contradiction to what the First Minister said in the Assembly. She said that the Chief Whip had been informed by the individual of his involvement and that Sinn Féin had reported it to the police, but, in her statement, the Chief Whip then said that he had made no admission to being at the event and had denied any knowledge of the damage. <BR /> <BR />As we said yesterday, either the First Minister misled the Assembly or the Chief Whip misled the PSNI.”
“You would think that that is pretty clear-cut. She also said that the employee had resigned from their employment and from party membership. However, in the statement from the Public Prosecution Service last week, in which it said that it would not be progressing the case due to lack of evidence, we are told:”
“Yesterday, my colleague Phillip Brett put a question for urgent oral answer to the First Minister regarding the clear contradictions in Sinn Féin's position on the damage caused to the portrait of a DUP Lord Mayor at Belfast City Hall during an Irish language event in October 2024. What resulted in that Question Time was a blatant example of stonewalling and evasion, with the First Minister refusing to give any meaningful answers. <BR /> <BR />Some may ask why the DUP and other parties are going on about the issue. We have a duty to expose the blatant cover-up that Sinn Féin is engaged in. Let me repeat the key contradiction in Sinn Féin's position at two different points in time. <BR /> <BR />On 22 October 2024, First Minister Michelle O'Neill informed the Northern Ireland Assembly in the Chamber:”
“First Minister, do you believe that it was appropriate that, at the Executive Office Committee meeting that you attended on 23 October 2024, when Harry Harvey and I raised the subject of the damage to the former Lord Mayor's portrait, Carál Ní Chuilín, who is a Committee member, did not recuse herself, given that she had failed to declare a clear conflict of interest, specifically that her son had let Sinn Féin know of his involvement in the damage to the portrait, which Sinn Féin had reported to the PSNI?”
“Minister, given your public utterances on innocent victims and your party colleagues' adopting language such as "non-combatants" to describe victims of terrorism, will you take the opportunity today to repair trust with the innocent victims?”
“What are you, as Finance Minister, doing to encourage, incentivise and lead that efficiency drive?”
“With the Budget providing just £18·8 million of additional revenue for Northern Ireland in this financial year, a significant shortfall remains. Minister, you said in your statement that:”
“<BR /> <BR />We have seen such intolerance on display in Belfast through the removal of the blue plaque commemorating the birthplace of Chaim Herzog on Cliftonpark Avenue. It will not be lost on people that Dublin may be set to erase the family name of a Chief Rabbi, yet it retains a statue of Nazi collaborator, Seán Russell, who died on board a German U-boat on his way home in 1940. He was buried at sea with full German naval honours and wrapped in a swastika flag.”
“<BR /> <BR />Sinn Féin's intolerant proposal has rightly been met with condemnation from the prime minister of Ireland, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and internationally from US Senator, Lindsey Graham, and the office of the current Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, who is the son of Chaim Herzog. Whatever way some may wish to present it, it is an attempt to remove a reference to a prominent Jewish figure and the son of a former Chief Rabbi of Ireland. It is symptomatic of the insular antisemitism and mean-spiritedness that is on display in the Republic of Ireland and of how certain minorities are treated in that state. It comes on the back of the hostility displayed towards Heather Humphreys because of her family background.”
“<BR /> <BR />The park was renamed Herzog Park in 1995 in honour of Major General Chaim Herzog, a former president of Israel, who was born in Belfast in 1918. He grew up in Dublin, where his father, Yitzhak Herzog, served as the first Chief Rabbi of the Irish Free State from 1921 until 1936. Chaim Herzog served with distinction in the British Army during the Second World War, fighting against Nazism. He went on to serve as president of Israel from 1983 until 1993. Any country or city should take pride in people who have gone on to achieve great things on the international stage. Herzog Park is around only one acre in size and is located next to Stratford College, a multi-denominational school, which was established predominantly by people of the Jewish faith.”
“Dublin City Council was set to discuss this evening a proposal to rename Herzog Park in Rathgar in the latest demonstration of anti-Israel and antisemitic politics in the Irish Republic. The proposal was approved by a council committee last July, with only one councillor voting against, and it had been brought forward by a Sinn Féin councillor. Thankfully, the proposal has been removed from the order paper by the council's chief executive, due to legislation that is in progress. However, it is deeply concerning that the proposal could return. If approved, it would be an appalling example of a lack of tolerance and an attempt to expunge from history the contribution of the Jewish community.”
“There is much more to be done. We thank the Members who have indicated support for our amendment and commend it to the House.”
“No, I will not have time. <BR /> <BR />That figure has increased under the current Labour Government. We cannot be blind to the wider financial realities, but we in the DUP will work with every Government. Our well-being is based on being a large economy, not on being a tax haven for wealthy multinationals. <BR /> <BR />Steve Aiken showed how the Health Minister had found savings of hundreds of millions of pounds, not least by reducing the high spend on locum doctors. We recognise that that is an example of looking for savings, but, of course, the Minister's Department has shortcomings in capital projects, and, as my colleague Harry Harvey pointed out, the new regional maternity hospital is £40 million over budget and many years late.”
“Let us never forget that, but let us also remember that there is a national challenge to our country's finances. National debt is currently at around £2·6 trillion.”
“The DUP will seek the faithful implementation of those schemes, the expansion of short-term placements and the recruitment of more external experts to achieve better outcomes in our Civil Service. Northern Ireland is well placed to benefit from greater integration with the Home Civil Service. <BR /> <BR />Jemma Dolan and the Minister pointed to the extra £1·3 billion that, the Minister says, he has secured from His Majesty's Treasury. That highlights that our annual subvention from His Majesty's Treasury is over £19 billion, so, while Members rightly point out the effects of austerity, we would do well to remember that we benefit from being part of a country — the United Kingdom — that has the sixth-largest economy in the world. Our prosperity is based on that.”
“Whereas the Civil Services in Scotland and Wales remain part of the UK Home Civil Service, the Northern Ireland Civil Service is a stand-alone body and, as a result, has been unable and, at times, unwilling to benefit from economies of scale in terms of skills present in the public sector in Great Britain. The DUP sought to tackle that during our negotiations with the Government, and the 'Safeguarding the Union' Command Paper sets out a programme for skills exchange between the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the UK Home Civil Service. Encouraging those secondments and movements across all parts of the UK will boost capacity and help to bring specific expertise to projects, where necessary.”
“We think that more can be done to bring about efficiencies, and the focus should be on reducing waste and carrying out reform that leads to efficiencies. <BR /> <BR />Whilst there are many people working hard and efficiently in the Northern Ireland Civil Service, it has a poor record on major capital projects, and we have given examples of that. A 2024 Audit Office report said that only one out of seven flagship infrastructure projects identified in 2015 had been completed, and a second of the seven was completed by the time of the Public Accounts Committee report. That means that five were not completed. <BR /> <BR />We note that the Northern Ireland Civil Service is different from its counterparts in Scotland and Wales.”
“I will come on to what we can do here ourselves and how we can bring more efficiencies. <BR /> <BR />Diane Forsythe, in proposing the DUP amendment, highlighted the importance of the Budget supporting the agreed Programme for Government and how, previously, with the 12-month Budgets, pressure to spend money within one financial year was hampering delivery and resulting in a rush to spend moneys at the end of the year. There will now be the ability to plan across multiple years, and that should improve efficiency and delivery. <BR /> <BR />Our amendment focuses on the need for transformations. We think that the answer should not automatically be to tax people in Northern Ireland more and squeeze more money out of hard-pressed families and people who are struggling to make ends meet.”
“Do I get an extra minute, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker?”
“Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. In our amendment, we welcome the forthcoming multi-year Budget for the Northern Ireland Executive for three years and four years' capital. We await with great interest the Budget announcements by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, tomorrow. <BR /> <BR />The leader of the Opposition asked what the DUP wants: the DUP will stand up for the people of Northern Ireland. We will both work with and challenge every Government at Westminster in the interests of the people of Northern Ireland. Indeed, it was our party leader, Gavin Robinson, who led the challenge to increase the fiscal floor for Northern Ireland by an extra 24% for every pound spent in GB.”
“However, there was not sufficient evidence. <BR /> <BR />From time to time, events occur that remind us that Sinn Féin is not a normal political party. What other political party would have its member attend an event and engage in a hate crime, and then, when the person decides to say nothing to the police, the party engages in a cover-up? I see Sinn Féin Members smirking and smiling, but those events expose the reality of Sinn Féin. It does not respect the rule of law. It engaged in a cover-up, and that event, like previous events, will continue to haunt it and expose its lack of democracy.”
“and that the PPS and the PSNI were working to establish the evidence of what occurred. The statement adds that, because of a lack of evidence, it did not progress to prosecution. There was no CCTV coverage of the attack on the portrait. We are told that the organising group, an Irish language group, failed to provide a list of attendees. There were no eyewitnesses, and the PPS statement states:”
“The PPS statement issued yesterday reminds us that, also on 21 October:”
“Yesterday, the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) took the unusual step of issuing a lengthy statement explaining its decision not to proceed with the prosecution of the individual who was interviewed in connection with the damage to the portrait of former lord mayor Lord Browne at Belfast City Hall. <BR /> <BR />Let us remind ourselves of the sequence of events. A Sinn Féin spokesperson said in October 2024:”
“Will the Minister confirm that schools should continue to plan for and hold nativity plays, as many do at this time of year?”
“and given that there were a large number of Sinn Féin members in attendance, including, as I say, the junior Minister, surely it is not credible for Sinn Féin to claim once again that it did not notice its former employee present there.”
“First Minister, I think that there is a good relations angle to and consequence from it. Indeed, the junior Minister was present at the event. Given that the Sinn Féin chief whip is quoted in a witness statement as saying that the employee made:”