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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) for moving the amendment. I share her concern, in the sense that the conditions should be right before the devolution of policing and criminal justice functions takes place but, with all due respect, her amendment applies a precondition that is not necessary. We have already put in place secure processes to ensure that, should devolution take place, it does so with the support of a range of bodies and institutions. Under the terms of section 4 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, policing and justice will not be devolved until the triple lock, as we have termed it, is in place. The first element of the lock is that the Assembly itself must vote on a cross-community basis for such devolution before it can take place, so in the first instance, the ball is firmly in the Assembly’s court. On the Assembly’s not being ““stable””, as her amendment describes it—it remains to be seen how we define that—she will doubtless recognise that the Assembly would want to devolve policing and criminal justice only on the basis of cross-community confidence in such devolution. The hon. Lady has witnessed today the great strength of feeling that exists in all parts of the Committee on several issues appertaining to building the confidence that will allow policing and criminal justice to be devolved. The Assembly itself must first have such confidence. Secondly, the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland must agree to introducing the relevant order in this House; in other words, the British Government must first take into consideration the Assembly’s stability, safety and security. Finally, the House of Commons must vote in favour of the transfer order before the devolution of policing and criminal justice can become a reality. With due respect to the hon. Lady, the two-year period to which her amendment refers would prove arbitrary. The Assembly, the Secretary of State and the House of Commons could support such devolution as soon as this December, following the Assembly’s restoration—we hope—on 24 November at the latest. Alternatively, such support could be forthcoming in one, two or five years’ time. Establishing an arbitrary limit of two years would not add anything of substance to the safeguards. As the hon. Lady herself seemed to recognise, every lawyer in the United Kingdom would find it difficult to define the phrase ““stable and secure””. The use of such a phrase would not help the Secretary of State in reaching a judgment on the timing of devolution, with which section 4(2) of the 1998 Act already deals. I accept that her objectives are sound—she wants to ensure a ““stable and secure”” environment before such devolution takes place—but her amendment would add nothing to the Bill. I therefore hope that she will reflect on my comments and withdraw it.