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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I credit the Minister for showing signs of listening. He is doing quite well. As a general progress report, it is good to see that he is beginning to make up for nine years of parliamentary deafness by some of his colleagues, although there is some way to go yet. In parenthesis, I would say to him that the Liberal Democrats were provoked into supporting the new clause tabled by the DUP because he showed no willingness to show any empathy with a point that seemed utterly reasonable and which hon. Members made with sincerity. I do not want to have a go at the Minister—I think that he is a very nice man. I will be in his constituency in a few days’ time, and I do not want him to be annoyed with me. [Interruption.] I shall let him know, but it is not perhaps terribly relevant to what we are discussing now. If the hon. Member for Tewkesbury insists on pressing the new clause, I will have to vote for it in the same way that one would vote for motherhood and apple pie. I have issued a reality check about the likelihood of its making a difference. Hope springs eternal, but I think that it will take more than another pledge to bring things together in Northern Ireland.