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Northern Ireland Bill

May I finish this point before accepting interventions, including one from the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon)? We all agree that devolution is a good thing, and those decisions are much better made in Belfast, but that cannot happen until there is necessary agreement between the parties on the structures on which devolution is to take place. Halfway houses are not possible. There is ministerial responsibility, either here or in Belfast; it is not possible to have both, or for them both to be statutorily defined, as the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) wishes. It is possible, however, to ensure that politics is at work in the Assembly and in the heed that my ministerial team and I take of its views; we must ensure that the politics works to move things forward. I shall give a concrete example of the dilemma that we face before giving way, as I promised. All the parties oppose water charges, and they would like Northern Ireland to be a unique position, in contrast to the rest of the United Kingdom, so that such charges are not levied. That is a legitimate political case. If the Assembly were not fully restored, and I said that it could vote without responsibilities for its decisions, it would vote on water charges in an oppositionalist mode—I hope that that is not an unfair characterisation—if it decided that it did not want water charges. That decision would knock a great big hole in the budget from April next year, when it is proposed that the first tranche of water charges should be phased in. If the Assembly, acting irresponsibly, in the sense that it does not have responsibility for the consequences of its decisions, did not want water charges—I accept that no one likes to pay more money—that would knock a great big hole in the budget for health, education, children’s services and agriculture. Decisions that are made therefore have consequences. The Assembly is not yet fully restored, but when we reach a point where it has responsibility, because it has an Executive who can make recommendations, and the parties in the Executive vote accordingly because they know that their decisions have consequences, I am happy for decisions on water charges, the RPA—the review of public administration—education reform and so on to be made by the Assembly.