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Northern Ireland Bill

I would have been more than happy to, but because of the time constraint I will not. If we could have extended the debate beyond 7 o’clock, I would have been able to give way. Several arguments have been made today as to why we should move towards devolution. The first is that the IRA have moved. The IMC report today indicates that they have moved. We have had substantial decommissioning last summer, and we accept that that has happened. But as has been pointed out, the IRA are moving because the tactics used against them have changed. Instead of giving them rewards, sanctions are being imposed. In the past, we were told that if we put them into government, they would behave. The DUP tactic is to deny them a place in government and make them behave. In the past, we were told that if we turned a blind eye to their activities perhaps they would move away from them; now, through the combined efforts of our party and others, the security forces are going after their criminal empires and putting on the pressure. While that is going on, why should we lift the pressure? Why should we go back to the old, failed methods and give them rewards? We want the task completed. In six months’ time, I want to be able to say that the behaviour of Sinn Fein and the IRA has changed dramatically. That would be good for my constituents and good for Northern Ireland and its economy. If and when those changes arrive, the leader of my party, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley), our deputy leader, my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast, East (Mr. Robinson), and other speakers have made it clear that the political landscape will have changed. Like the hon. Member for Hackney, South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier), we believe that there are benefits from devolution. The second argument in favour of devolution is that we could take our own decisions. Some people have painted a realistic picture; there would be hard decisions to make but at least we would be making them on behalf of our constituents, with at least a degree of accountability. However, there are some political quacks around. They can be found in some of the pro-agreement parties and lobby groups pushing for devolution. They present devolution as a panacea, through which all the hard decisions will disappear; all the pain will suddenly be relieved and there will be no tough political decisions to make. That is not the case. Anybody who sells devolution on those grounds is a charlatan. They are political quacks and they will come unstuck. There are hard political decisions to make. Some of the things we are discussing did not start only after the Assembly fell; for example, the big increase in rates was known as the Durkan tax after the hon. Member for Foyle (Mr. Durkan).