‘IRA’ Derry bomb claim raised in House of Commons exchange over Brexit

The DUP MP said: “Immediately after the bomb, the police made it clear who was responsible: the dissident republican movement in NI. Those who planted the device issued a statement, which said: ‘All this talk of Brexit, hard borders, soft borders, has no bearing on our actions and the IRA won’t be going anywhere’.

“I seek your guidance, Mr Speaker, on the need for all of us to speak responsibly and deal effectively with the issues that come to us in a way that does not raise the spectre of giving incentives to those who activate violence or support or give credence to it.”

He made the intervention after Dulwich & West Norwood Labour MP, Helen Hayes, received a letter from a Derry-based constituent who felt the bombing was Brexit related.

On Tuesday, Ms. Hayes said: “I was contacted this week by a constituent who runs a business in Derry/Londonderry. He writes: ‘The official position is that [the bomb] is nothing to do with Brexit; everyone I’ve spoken to finds this laughable: it is everything to do with Brexit. The danger, irresponsibility and absurdity really comes home to you when the bomb disposal Land Rovers are screaming past our office.’”

Responding to Mr. Campbell, Ms. Hayes said: “I quoted verbatim from a constituent of mine who works and is an employer in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency [sic] in NI, and has spent extensive time there over several years. It was not conjecture, but a report of reality on the ground.”