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Northern Ireland Bill

I am now certain that the Conservatives support the amendment. Unfortunately, Sinn Fein Members have not been able to make it here today, but I am sure that they would do so too. The Government are always looking for consensus, and they have it with this amendment. They should respond by accepting it, or at least by tabling an amendment in their own words on Report that would achieve the same thing. Will the Secretary of State say what damage could possibly be done by explicitly including the Assembly—or the forum, if that is the preferred name for the body—in the decision-making process in respect of Orders in Council? That would relieve some of the pressure that all of us feel when it comes to the inability to amend legislation, and it would also give the Assembly the sort of real responsibilities that we all agree would be helpful.