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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I thank hon. Members from all parts of the House for what has been a fascinating and largely good-tempered debate. I have certainly enjoyed listening, and have noted certain issues to do with drinking green beer, with dogs’ dinners and with laptops in haystacks, all of which has been fascinating and enjoyable. After seven hours in this Chamber, I find that dogs’ dinners and green beer have their attractions. It is important that we have the consensus that we have today, and I am grateful for the broad welcome given to the Bill by the hon. Members for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) and for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik). I also welcome the assurances from DUP Members that they will not seek to divide the House. Important issues have been raised that I hope to address during my winding-up remarks, but we need to focus on the Bill’s core purposes. Our aim in government has been to equip Northern Ireland to meet the challenges that it will face over the coming years, be they political, social, economic or environmental. The Bill seeks to do so by putting in place frameworks for the devolution of policing and criminal justice and for the regulation of political donations and elections, by securing for Northern Ireland a potential future on issues such as the electricity market and by tackling the question of decommissioning. As hon. Members have said, and as is clear from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s introductory remarks, the clear starting point for that has to be the restoration of the Assembly. The hon. Members for Belfast, North (Mr. Dodds) and for Belfast, East (Mr. Robinson) and others mentioned the fact that the Assembly needs to be restored as a matter of urgency. I fully agree with the comments by the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon) on that point. In the event of the Assembly being restored and government returning to its proper place in Northern Ireland, the Bill tackles some key issues. I recognise the concern expressed by hon. Members from all parts of the House about the provisions enabling the future devolution of policing and criminal justice. A number of points have been made by hon. Members, and it is only fair that I try to answer them today. First, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon (Mr. Anderson) for welcoming the Bill. We want devolution of policing and criminal justice to take place at a point in the future when it is appropriate. The proposed arrangements must be robust, must be workable and must continue to deliver an effective, impartial and independent justice system. The Bill does not set out what should be devolved or how it should be done, and I refer all hon. Members to the document on these questions issued by the Government. Policing and devolution were mentioned by the hon. Members for Aylesbury, for Foyle (Mark Durkan), for Montgomeryshire, for South Down (Mr. McGrady), for South Staffordshire (Sir Patrick Cormack), the right hon. Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley), and the hon. Members for Belfast, North, for Lancaster and Wyre (Mr. Wallace) and for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson). Obviously, it is of concern to all the Members who spoke in the debate. We certainly want Sinn Fein to join the Policing Board, and we want to see the devolution of policing, but I hope that I have been able to reassure right hon. and hon. Members throughout the House that the triple lock is in place: first, the Assembly must, on a cross-party vote, wish it; secondly, the Government must propose it; and thirdly, the House of Commons must approve it.