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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I hope that my hon. Friend accepts that we are at a stage where the Assembly does not formally constitute an Executive. There will not necessarily be movement towards that framework in the foreseeable future, so we will put in place such a framework. Neither he nor I know whether any movement towards devolved criminal justice and policing will take place before or after a further Assembly election. I cannot even envisage a situation in which I know who will be the First and Deputy First Ministers or which will be the majority parties in the Assembly when a decision is made to effect the devolution of criminal justice and policing.