Carla Lockhart MP said:

“I have tabled a motion in Parliament because the recent comments describing Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane as having lived a ‘life well lived’ are not only offensive, they are morally indefensible.

A so-called ‘life well lived’ in Sinn Féin terms translates into spraying a bar in a loyalist area with bullets and murdering five innocent civilians. That is what is being lauded. That is what is being sanitised.

Bik McFarlane was a convicted terrorist and failed hunger striker who played his role in a sectarian attack that left families devastated. To dress that up in warm words is an insult to the memory of those who were murdered and to the survivors who live with the trauma to this day.

The glorification of terrorism must be condemned and challenged wherever it arises. It cannot be excused, repackaged or romanticised.

I have therefore called on the Government to amend the Terrorism Act 2006 to explicitly prohibit the glorification of convicted terrorists. Victims must come first, and the rule of law and respect for innocent life must be upheld in Northern Ireland.

I am asking MPs from across the House to stand with victims and join me in supporting this campaign.”