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Northern Ireland Bill

No, I shall not give way. The hon. Gentleman’s earlier intervention was quite short. I remember having to listen to him explaining such things in the Northern Ireland Assembly and it used to take him about an hour and a half. Another argument is that devolution will be a magic wand to help us get through all the pain. Some of the hard things we are experiencing originated under the old devolution settlement. The structure of the previous Assembly meant that decisions were made by Ministers who were wholly unaccountable. They imposed changes, such as those in education, with which we are still struggling. If the interim step that we hope will lead to full devolution is to be effective, I believe that it is essential that Members realise that there is a job to be done. That means that the Secretary of State—I am pleased to see him back in his place—must listen to the representations that Members make. Otherwise, they will feel that the Assembly that has been established is a useless body. It has been suggested that any legislation or Orders in Council currently in preparation should not apply until at least 24 November. I recognise that that is also a rod to beat the back of people such as myself. As we come up to 24 November, I well recognise the threat that Orders in Council can be introduced if devolution does not come about. Nevertheless, I am prepared to live with that because I believe that it is important, if any value is to be attached to devolved institutions in Northern Ireland in the longer term, that the people of Northern Ireland know that all the decisions that they hate and loathe have not been taken before devolution is set up. There should be a disincentive to push such measures forward and ram them through the House. I implore the Secretary of State to understand that we wish to move towards devolution. We want the necessary decisions to be taken, however difficult the context, but they can be taken only when parties behave democratically, associate themselves with the police and law and order and pursue criminality. When those conditions are met, we are happy to have devolution. Until then, I hope that the Secretary of State will allow the Assembly to do a real job of work.