---

Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I thank the hon. Lady for making her personal position clear, and I know that when she has the opportunity to speak to her party leader she will remind him that that was not the reason that he has given publicly for his decision. It was a self-serving reason—or at least he thought that it was—as he thought that his party would get an additional ministerial post. However, he will find that that might not work out as he expected. To return to new clause 3, policing and justice issues are of such importance that if they are to be devolved to a Northern Ireland Assembly, it is imperative that there is not just general support in the Assembly but, as under the previous legislation, cross-community support. According to the definition of cross-community support in the earlier legislation, 40 per cent. of votes from one section of the community would have been sufficient. Policing and justice powers could have been devolved even if the majority of the Unionist community, for instance, did not support it. The Government new clause and amendments remedy that in two ways. The first relates to the parallel methods of securing cross-community support in the Assembly. That support can be secured through an overall majority of Assembly Members, no fewer than 50 per cent. being from the Unionist community and no fewer than 50 per cent. being from the nationalist community. Alternatively, it can be secured through an overall majority, at least 40 per cent. being from either the Unionist or the nationalist community. In new clause 3, the Government specify the former method. There must be an overall majority, and a majority of both nationalists and Unionists. That should ensure real cross-community support: substantial support for the devolution of policing and justice powers in both communities, rather than a majority in one community and a minority in the other. The Government have made a sensible decision, establishing at least one lock for the Northern Ireland community. The second lock relates to the First and Deputy First Ministers. In practical terms, it would be absurd to provide for circumstances in which the Assembly might decide to devolve policing and justice powers without their consent. The Government have provided for practical circumstances, and for the further lock that my colleagues and I requested. In the comprehensive agreement proposals published by the Government, it was accepted not just by Her Majesty’s Government but by the Government of the Irish Republic, and I assume that Sinn Fein approved of it as well—although I cannot say for certain, because we were not speaking to Sinn Fein. When I mentioned the desirability of this further lock to the Minister on Second Reading and also, I believe, in Committee, he responded that no mischief had been intended by its omission. We attributed its absence to a drafting blip. I am glad that that has now been remedied, and that both those locks are in the Bill. It is true that there are two further locks, but they are not locks on which the Northern Ireland community would rely on very strongly. The fact that the Secretary of State must give his approval will not engender a great deal of trust and enthusiasm in the Unionist community nor will the need for the approval of the House, which has passed much legislation that has not been supported by the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland. Those two locks may be important to the Government and the House, but they are not as important to the people of Northern Ireland as the first two locks. The first two locks are to the advantage of Unionist and nationalist alike. No Assembly Member need fear that anything will be foisted on the Assembly before the community is ready, and before the Assembly is ready to take its responsibilities. It would be wrong to put such important powers in the hands of an Assembly that was not ready to accept them. I trust that no nationalist or Unionist will dispute what the Government have done, but essentially we are talking about two double locks rather than a quadruple lock. My second point is that because policing is such an important issue, it may be said to have an important context even before the devolution of policing and justice powers. My right hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley) is quoted as having said at the weekend that it was imperative for those who are part of an Executive in Northern Ireland to give their support to policing in Northern Ireland. The point has also been laboured—if he will forgive me for saying so—by the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington). Whenever he has explained what is necessary, he has specified that essential requirement. It is hard for anyone who reads about democracy in the text books to believe that someone could be part of an Executive, part of the Government of a country, without supporting the law enforcement agency of that country. It is still harder to believe that a member of an Executive would not support, and in many cases would not even recognise, the courts. That is not a proposition that anyone could seriously contemplate. Anyone who wants to be part of Government in Northern Ireland must be determined to urge people to give evidence to the police if they witness events, to contact the police if they are in need, and to encourage the police to operate freely in their areas. That is essential. My right hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim rightly said that merely joining a police force would not be seen as giving support to the police, and that simply signing up to the devolution powers would certainly not be seen as such. Tangible support will consist of Assembly Members’ urging those over whom they have influence to support the police, join the police, give evidence to the police and ask the police to go into their areas.