---

Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

We can all have much amusement at the Minister’s expense as he stands before us to withdraw these three clauses, which were a necessary working requirement a short while ago and now do not fit with the different path that the Government are on. We can all poke fun and say that it shows a lack of strategy on the part of the Government. However, the reality for those of us who are here as Northern Ireland politicians and elected representatives is that there is genuine uncertainty and doubt about our capacity, competence and resolve to take and share responsibility together within the institutions to which we are elected. The Minister, in presenting the clauses a few weeks ago and now withdrawing them, is left as a victim of that uncertainty. As Northern Ireland Members, we need to remember that the biggest questions are not about who wanted early elections a few weeks ago and who may not want them now, but about whether we want to take the powers and responsibilities that we can take within a Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive and within the north-south and east-west arrangements. The hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) suggested that the SDLP had to show whether we would go into these interim arrangements, which are short of full-blown devolution. We do not want to go into anything half-baked, nor will we go into anything on a half-hearted basis. We do not believe that the Government have gone far enough in what they have proposed, but we will take things as far as we can. We will go in with a positive mind and try to make fast progress towards the agreement; we will not go into any diversions or cul-de-sacs that anybody else might want. We need to remember that it is for the parties from Northern Ireland to address and resolve the biggest questions around election dates for the Assembly and the restoration of the Assembly, and for the Government to be supportive as we try to do so. Clause 10 disagreed to. Clauses 11 and 12 disagreed to. To report progress and ask leave to sit again. —[Mr. Watts.] Committee report progress; to sit again tomorrow.