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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I thank my hon. Friend for her point, and I will deal with that issue later. She has highlighted an important part of what we mean by supporting the rule of law. Despite reservations that we might have about the effectiveness of any additional pledge, we support the new clause for two reasons. First, it is at least a step in the right direction. It counters the wrong signals sent out by the Government at present. Members have already referred to the Secretary of State giving evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee last Thursday, which was an interesting session. During it, I put a simple question to him. I asked him whether it was"““possible for an executive to be set up in Northern Ireland, with ministers from Sinn Fein, even though Sinn Fein had not at that stage given their support for policing.””" His answer was extremely disturbing. First, he said that he did not want to"““erect new hurdles to power sharing.””" He went on to state:"““I do not want to make this””—" a commitment to supporting the police—"““a pre-condition, and it will not be made a pre-condition, for the restoration of the institutions””." What could be a clearer signal to those who not only do not support the police but, as the hon. Member for Strangford (Mrs. Robinson) has pointed out, actively discourage people from having anything to do with the police, even to the point that they seek to poison the minds of people who come to Northern Ireland from outside to get them into their way of thinking? Leaflets have been given to those who have come to west Belfast warning them not to go to the police station, not to report crimes to the police and not to go to the police station unaccompanied. What kind of message is that to send out? The Secretary of State told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee last week that he did not wish to erect a barrier to the setting up of the institutions. In this case, he did not want us to insist that Sinn Fein should desist from that kind of poisoning of people’s minds. He went on to say that"““there is no question that it is unsustainable in the medium-term, let alone the long- term, for parties to seek to have ministers in an executive when they are not co-operating with the police even at the most basic level or at a local level””." What is the medium term? How long can a Minister stay in office while the kind of poison that I and my hon. Friend the Member for Strangford have described—about not co-operating with the police—is pumped out by activists on the street? At the weekend I did a television interview with a Sinn Fein representative. During the interview, I asked her whether she and her organisation would advise someone who had witnessed or had evidence of a rape to go to the police. One would have thought that a woman who was asked about that kind of issue would respond, ““Of course, such a violation should be immediately reported to the police, and anyone with information should go to the police.”” However, all I got was rhetoric about the police recruiting informers and gathering intelligence in republican areas. Even as a woman, that Sinn Fein representative could not say unequivocally ““We want people to report rapes to the police, and to give evidence.”” Someone who wants to be a Minister in a Government and who still associates with a party which, collectively and in terms of its individual members, gives such advice to the public is not fit to be in Government, and a Government containing such people will not, in my view, be sustainable.