Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
I appreciate the Member's giving way. I want to come back on that point because the Bill sponsor is fundamentally wrong on two of the issues that he has just addressed. He said that there needs to be a formal course of therapy. That exists nowhere in the legislation. Read what it says in clause 4. It does not say that…
I am happy to repeat myself. The safeguards in the Bill are these: the individual must be operating with intent; there must be either a formal course of therapy or a coercive course of behaviour consistent with the definition employed in domestic abuse law; there must be a specific, identified victim; and the…
Thank you, Mr Burrows. You said that you did line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill. Why do you keep conflating — deliberately, in my opinion — normal parenting practices with an attempt to change the child's sexuality? You keep bringing up normal, everyday situations that a parent will be in as part of their parenting and…
I thank the Member for giving way. It is important to be accurate with the legislation that is before us. In clause 5(1)(c), coercive behaviour means: "controlling, regulating or monitoring the victim's day-to-day activities," and that is the very point that the Member just articulated, and an issue that he has read…
Can the Member help me with the point that he is trying to make? In what circumstances or in what world would a parent disciplining their child in a reasonable way, restricting their access to their phone or social media, preventing the child from being exposed to inappropriate material, be deemed to be motivated by…
That is a fair point, well made. One of the gravest dangers in the Bill is in regard to parenting and the hazards for parenting. Clause 5, "Coercive behaviour", refers to "regulating or monitoring" someone's "day-to-day activities", "restricting" their "freedom of action" or making them feel "punished". The…
I thank the Member for giving way. It annoys me, at times, when Members talk about a Bill being badly drafted. The intervention that the Member just took from the Bill sponsor explains and illustrates perfectly that the instructions that were given to the Bill Office and the drafters were right. It is not the…
No, because the mens rea in the Bill relates to intent to suppress or change sexual orientation or gender identity. The Member would struggle to point to a piece of criminal legislation that includes two mental elements rather than one. Typically, in such cases as domestic abuse, where the test is recklessness as to…
On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have sat listening to Mr Burrows's contribution. First, Mr Deputy Speaker, can you confirm that private Members' Bills are produced with the support of the Bill Office by professional drafters who are paid for out of public money? Secondly, Mr Burrows, we would not have to…
I absolutely agree with the Member. When we compare this Bill with the draft Bill in Westminster, the differences on the threshold for serious harm become even more notable. That Bill proposes that the conduct has to be abusive and requires serious harm, serious alarm or distress that substantially affects someone's…
There has been literal rolling of the eyes and huffing and puffing coming from some corners of the Chamber about a number of issues that have been raised on this side of the House during the debate. Has the Member noted that what those Members have not done in response is go to the text of the Bill? That is the…
That again speaks of a conflation that we have here. There is an important distinction, against which the Member protested earlier in the debate, between domestic violence and abuse and what is proposed in the Bill. It is never OK to put your partner in fear, alarm or distress. In the case of two adults in a…
I am genuinely grateful to the Member for giving way, because these are important issues that are worthy of debate. As I said in my opening remarks, there is a policy judgement to be made by the Assembly on whether to go with the wording "fear, alarm or distress", "fear, alarm or distress, excluding trivial and…
Let me make it really clear: the Ulster Unionist Party remains of the view that it is wrong to engage in harmful, abusive and coercive practices on the basis of whatever identity, gender identity or sexual orientation people have. That is not the issue with the Bill, however. Frankly, this is not a motion. It could…
I thank the Member for giving way. I intervene genuinely to be helpful. In my opening remarks, I referenced the fact that the UK Government's Bill includes a more explicit statutory definition than the one that we have employed, and I said that I was open to replicating that definition at Consideration Stage. If…
I thank the Member for giving way. My intervention refers to a point that I made earlier. Does the Member find it concerning that the Bill sponsor cannot put on record the gender identities that fall within the scope of the Bill?
I will maybe start from the beginning again. I know that you are all desperate to hear my contribution. I will return to that point briefly. We are not here to decide whether abuse, coercive behaviour, humiliation and degrading treatment are right or wrong: they are clearly wrong. We are here to look at the Bill and…