Home Affairs Committee and Northern Ireland Affairs Committee

7 July 2026

Home Affairs Committee and Northern Ireland Affairs Committee House of Commons

00:04 - 01:53
Speaker 2
Order, order.  Can I welcome everyone to today's joint session, very unusual joint session of the Home Affairs and Northern Ireland Affairs Committees.  We are holding this session in response to recent events in Northern Ireland to look at the response to the recent disorder in Belfast, which from the Home Affairs Select Committee view follows on from the work we did when we looked at the policing response to the disorder that we saw after the Southport attack in the summer of 2024.  It will also explore the arrangements the government has in place to identify and respond to irregular migration to and from Northern Ireland, something that I know the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee looked at in its recent inquiry into policing and security in Northern Ireland.  I do want to be clear though, we're not linking the two issues. 

We want to understand the policing and we want to understand the issues around migration, but we are not making a link between the two.  So we're going to start on the first panel with questions about the recent disorder before moving on to questions about irregular migration.  But before we start our questioning, I should highlight that there are live criminal proceedings relating to the attack in Belfast on 8th of June and the subsequent disorder.  In line with Parliament's sub judice rule, we will not be discussing the details of any individual cases.  So I'm going to ask our witnesses to introduce themselves. 

I'm going to start with Mr. Beck because he's online, unfortunately he's had travel problems, but I'm going to start with Mr. Beck then I'll move to you Mr. Montgomery and then along.  Davy.  Is it working?  It was working beautifully. 
01:53 - 01:55
Speaker 15
Yeah, I think you've got me now. 

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