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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

As the hon. Gentleman has said, that also happened in the previous Assembly with the post of Speaker, when issues went on inside a particular party. On that occasion, Caesar did in Brutus, but such events have occurred for calculated reasons. We must remember that the Bill provides that a ministerial appointment will count against the party whose member is appointed a Minister for the purposes of the d’Hondt system. The parties would therefore be denied their own legitimate and proper choice under the d’Hondt system by virtue of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister perhaps selecting somebody from another party without the agreement of that party or that party’s leader through the use of the parallel consent mechanism. That is fundamentally unfair, and it goes against the grain of the Good Friday agreement in terms of inclusion and the choices that rest with parties. It is a return to the principle of parties not being able to vet or veto each other’s appointments. Amendment No. 24 seeks to address that matter by stating that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister may nominate a person for the justice portfolio only with the consent of that party’s nominating officer. So, contrary to what the Minister has said, we are not in the business of denying the First Minister and Deputy First Minister any role in the matter. We say that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister should only be able to nominate for the police and justice portfolio with the consent of a party’s nominating officer, given that that party’s d’Hondt quota will be affected and that its ranking of choice under d’Hondt will be materially affected. Amendments Nos. 24, 26, 27 and 30 apply only to joint Ministers, as they are currently drafted. However, I contend that the same approach should logically apply to rotating Ministers, for which the Bill provides, or, indeed, to a Minister elected with parallel consent, which is covered by the Government amendment that the Minister discussed earlier. Amendment No. 26 makes a consequential amendment to allow the Standing Orders to permit the nomination and election of joint justice Ministers. That would be helpful to ensure clarity on procedure in the same way as the Standing Orders for the Assembly under the Northern Ireland Act 2006 provide helpful procedural clarity on, for instance, how to manage if two sets of people are proposed as joint Ministers. Amendments Nos. 27 and 30 address the dismissal of a Minister. As has been said, Ministers appointed under the d’Hondt system are appointed by, and may be dismissed by, the leader of their party—the Assembly may also choose to exclude them. Under the Bill, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister have the sole power of dismissal, although holding ministerial office counts towards a party’s d’Hondt entitlements. Even more significantly, the Bill is wide open for abuse, because it specifies that holding office as a junior Minister counts towards a party’s entitlements under d’Hondt. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister could appoint a member of another party, using the votes of their own parties under parallel consent to secure that appointment, only to dismiss them and vote in a member of one of their own parties instead after the d’Hondt system had been run for other ministerial offices.