Motion targets prison releases

Two Labour MPs have tabled a Commons Motion calling on the government to slow down the early release scheme as a "political sanction…

Two Labour MPs have tabled a Commons Motion calling on the government to slow down the early release scheme as a "political sanction" against so-called punishment beatings.

The motion, to be voted on today, is signed by Mr Harry Barnes and Mr Frank Field.

It notes that 160 people in Northern Ireland have been directly affected by terrorist incidents this year.

The Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, again yesterday called on the British government to halt the release of paramilitary prisoners as incidences of such beatings escalated.

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As the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, yesterday met representatives of Sinn Fein, the Progressive Unionist Party and Ulster Democratic Party, to call for an end to the beatings, Mr Hague said the government had thrown away its "negotiating cards" with the paramilitaries "and we are getting nearer to a point when there will be no terrorists left in prison".

The beatings were "in breach" of the Belfast Agreement and of Mr Blair's assurance that the agreement would mean an end to violence in Northern Ireland.