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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. It matters not to my constituents whether a police officer is a Protestant, a Roman Catholic or of any other religious persuasion. What matters to them is that, when they need the police, the police are there for them. That is the key to this issue. Without wishing to stray beyond the boundaries of the debate, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would say to the hon. Member for Foyle that reducing the number of police officers is no substitute for recruiting more police officers, regardless of their religion. I welcome the young Roman Catholics who have joined the PSNI, and I hope that they enjoy serving the whole community. On the question of the date for the Assembly election, I have no difficulty with the Secretary of State taking that power. However, it says a lot about where we have got to in Northern Ireland that Sinn Fein-IRA continue to exercise a veto over political progress. That is wrong. Part of the reason behind that, as the hon. Member for Belfast, East (Mr. Robinson) said earlier, is that the SDLP in particular has given Sinn Fein that veto because it will not countenance any form of devolution that falls short of full Executive power sharing that includes Sinn Fein. That is highly regrettable and plays against the SDLP’s own interests. The reality is that there is no alternative form of devolution on offer at the moment, even though we have expressed a willingness to consider one. We made it clear in our recent proposals that we are prepared to share power with the SDLP at whatever level it chooses, right up to full Executive level. Our bottom line, however, is that we are not prepared to share power in an Executive with a party that is linked to a criminal terrorist organisation, and that position will not change. The SDLP needs to understand that. Sadly, if this involves an all-or-nothing approach, the result will have to be nothing, for the SDLP and for my party. We will have no devolution if the only devolution on offer to the people of Northern Ireland includes Sinn Fein-IRA in executive positions while the IRA continues to engage in crime and terrorism. I welcome what the hon. Member for North Down said about the UUP’s position on this matter. The SDLP should reflect on where we are and look again at the proposals we have made, as we are willing to look at its proposals on devolution. Like the hon. Lady, I am a devolutionist, and I want the Assembly up and running and functioning properly as soon as possible so that it can address important issues such as education. I am glad that missing from the miscellaneous provisions Bill are the proposals contained in the draft Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. Like the hon. Lady, I would like that important matter to be dealt with by primary legislation, but I would rather not have it dealt with by the House at all in its current form, because it will fundamentally undermine our education system in Northern Ireland. I would like the Assembly to get to grips with the issue of education. I would like us to sit down with SDLP Members and reach a consensus on education reform, as well as dealing with other matters such as the need for investment in our infrastructure. I welcome the Bill’s provision for loans to the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland. We made proposals during previous talks with the Government on the need to make more money available to the Northern Ireland Administration for infrastructure investment, which is long overdue. Indeed, there have been recent announcements by the Secretary of State and his colleagues on matters such as education and a massive investment in the infrastructure of education. I hope that he, while on the one hand improving the infrastructure of education, does not, on the other, fundamentally undermine the education system through the education reform order, which I think will do serious damage. I want briefly to discuss the primacy of the security services in intelligence in Northern Ireland. In an intervention, I asked the Secretary of State whether he shared my concern. In principle, I see the argument in favour of integrating Northern Ireland in the overall United Kingdom intelligence system and we recognise that the threat to this country from international terrorism is as much relevant in Northern Ireland as it is elsewhere in the UK. Indeed, there is evidence that the IRA and other terrorist groups in Northern Ireland have colluded and co-operated with other international terrorist groups, and one cannot rule out the possibility of that happening in future. Nevertheless, I have concerns. I believe that our security services are already stretched in dealing with the threat from international terrorism and I have not yet heard the Government’s proposals for strengthening the security services to take on their new role in Northern Ireland. I am also concerned about the need for protocols to be put in place to ensure that the security services pass on the intelligence that they gather to the special branch of the PSNI to help it to combat the terrorist threat in Northern Ireland and also, as my hon. Friend the Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) mentioned earlier, pursue the issue of criminal activity. While my party will not divide the House on this issue, as my right hon. and hon. Friends have said, let me say that that does not mean that there are not issues that concern us in relation to the Bill. We will take the opportunity in Committee to table suitable amendments. We will also watch out for what the Government do. I hope that, if they are to legislate for further changes to the Northern Ireland Act 1998, they do so by way of proper, separate legislation, rather than through an amendment to this Bill, which would be constitutionally inappropriate.