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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue. He will know that there are a range of reasons why, following discussions with the parties, an early election may have been desirable on previous occasions. Again, I can speculate until the end of the sitting at 7 o’clock this evening about what those reasons might be. The point is that we included in the Bill the ability to hold an early election if one were needed because of the circumstances of political discussions on the attempt to restore the Assembly, which the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) wishes to happen as a matter of urgency. If an early election was needed as part of those discussions, we could have called one if the Bill was passed as drafted. Following my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s announcement on 6 April, it is clear that the provisions for an early election will not be required, because we have recalled the Assembly for 15 May and set it a deadline of establishing an Executive, if possible, by 24 November, or thereabouts. I forget the exact date, but from memory I think that it is 24 November. We have said that, if the Assembly is not restored by that date, there will be no election for the Assembly. So an early election is not necessary. The circumstances for an early election could have been myriad, and I will not speculate on what could have happened in discussions with the DUP, the UUP, the SDLP, or Sinn Fein, which is not present today.