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Northern Ireland Bill

That may or may not be true of a couple of important issues, but let us consider education policy, in which the hon. Gentleman takes a close and expert interest; indeed, I pay tribute to him in that regard. As I understand it, he disagrees fundamentally with the abolition of the 11-plus. However, even if the relevant order goes through because restoration of the Assembly does not occur before the order completes its parliamentary process, there are still a whole series of other matters to be decided, such as exactly what the new admissions arrangements will be and exactly what role the pupil profile will play. Some of those matters will be determined by further legislation, and others simply by policy implementation. So it is not true that there is less of an incentive to restore the Assembly; there is more of an incentive, because the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues can then tailor the policy exactly as they wish. The same point applies, by the way, to local government reform, water charges and a range of other issues.