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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I note the outrage that the hon. Member for Belfast, East (Mr. Robinson) expressed when he said that Secretaries of State had adopted such a practice for some time. Rather than creating the obstacle of having to come back to both Houses of Parliament, it is better to get Parliament to agree now that, in such special circumstances, with the political process proceeding and the negotiations intensifying, we take a power, which may or may not have to be exercised, to bring forward the election date if, by agreement, we need to do that to make the progress that we all desire and that the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) has long supported.