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Northern Ireland Bill

I begin by speaking to amendment No. 4, which stands in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. Reid) and is a probing amendment. It is linked to amendment No. 5 in that it deals with the extent to which the Assembly can decide matters for itself. We are curious about the phrase"““in such manner as the Secretary of State may specify.””" Does that mean that the Assembly will be able to choose a Presiding Officer or deputies not of the Secretary of State’s choosing if it so wishes, or will the Assembly be able only to confirm the Secretary of State’s choices? That is important. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that the previous Speaker was universally admired and respected—I see a smile leaking from those on the DUP Benches—and he did not stay long enough, but he has gone now. I pay tribute in advance to Eileen Bell, who I think will be a superb Presiding Officer, but if the Assembly wanted to change that appointment—I hope it would not—would it have the capacity to do so? I hope the Minister will be able to answer that question. Amendments Nos. 7 and 8 were tabled by the SDLP. ““Command Paper 3883””, as we know, is the Good Friday agreement. I am slightly concerned that the aim behind the amendments might be to ensure that no changes are made to the operation of the Assembly and the Good Friday agreement. It is recognised that there have been difficulties in the operation of certain aspects of the agreement. Perhaps the most obvious of those was the use of designations. Who can forget the fiasco of autumn 2001, when members of the Alliance party had to pretend to be Unionists for five minutes in order to facilitate the election of a First and Deputy First Minister? That occurred despite the fact that over 70 per cent. of Assembly Members voted for David Trimble and the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) to take up those positions. That is fundamentally wrong. If the amendments would prevent a change, they would enshrine some rather bad practice.