The British government wanted to get legislation covering on-the-runs on to the statute books as agreed but it would look sympathetically at any amendments tabled, Northern Secretary Peter Hain said yesterday at the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body.
The agreement was made with the Irish Government, Mr Hain said, and they would not renege on it.
"It was part of the building block to get the IRA to give up armed struggle. I have inherited a past that included that agreement. We are where we are.
"In my view the violence from the IRA is over, the terrorism is over." Mr Hain added that "you don't just turn your back on an agreement that was made 2½ year ago". Mr Hain's remarks followed heated debate when members from the British, Irish, Scottish and Welsh parliaments expressed grave concerns about the on-the-runs legislation.
There was strong objection to the provision whereby those who had perpetrated crimes would not have to appear before a tribunal when their cases were being considered.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the victims were coming last in the proposed process.
Mr Hain said intelligence reports indicated that promises made by the IRA in July were being kept. This was also the view of the Irish Government.
He wanted power-sharing government back in the North as soon as possible.
Mr Durkan asked if the SDLP and the UUP could be excluded from a new government if they were not prepared to vote the DUP and Sinn Féin into the top jobs.
Mr Hain said no-one and no political party had a veto on the political process. They should now get discussions going without ruling anything in or ruling anything out and make progress to find a way forward.
On a debate on the advantages of an all-island economy, Mr Hain said he welcomed a positive argument about economic policy as the advantages from North-South co-operation were enormous.
Top corporate executives in New York and Washington whom he met recently saw the benefits.
That was the agenda, he said, practical common sense co-operation and not some quasi-constitutional point.
The constitutional structure would remain for as long as the people wanted.