---

Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Modification) (No. 2) Order 2006

I am very grateful to colleagues for their response and I fully understand and take on board their caveats. On the question of the date, I hope that what I said is accepted: that it would be too high a risk to wait until 11 October, the day that the House returns. For all I know, building work may not be finished—this place is a builders’ yard during the summer. Supposing that we did not get back by then, the direct rule powers would lapse and there would be chaos. The issue is whether we do this now or in July. That is a question for the business managers. Last year, it was done in July. As I said, the Secretary of State needs to be in the country. Frequently, he leads delegations to various parts of the world seeking business and other prospects for Northern Ireland. The question is whether this is done now or in two or three weeks’ time. That is inevitable, given the long Recess. We have made it clear that we are very grateful to colleagues in the other place for responding to our requests for suggestions about how we address the matter. We gave that much consideration. I was involved in a couple of meetings with ministerial colleagues over the winter and early spring. At that time, we will also formulate with our colleagues elsewhere how we take the whole issue forward. Out of that came that statement of the two Prime Ministers including the date and the necessity to legislate for it. Frankly, we took the view that it was more important to get that, because that was clearly the golden opportunity for Northern Ireland to have a proper system of government, rather than us introducing another system to the Orders in Council if that fails. We have given notice already that if the 24 November deadline is not met, the status quo is not an option. The status quo of continuing to roll-over Orders in Council after 24 November is simply not an option. Another system must be found. I speak without advice, but if one said that we should do it all in primary legislation, the chances are that Northern Ireland would be at the back of the queue. That is inevitable. It will not get top priority for time on the Floor of the House here or in the other place. All the while, progress in Northern Ireland will lapse. The fault for that will be that of the MLAs; it will not be that of the Government; it will not be that of the Opposition or the other parties at Westminster. The fault will lie directly with those people who stood for election to govern Northern Ireland but refused to take up their responsibilities. That is where the responsibility will lie. Employers were informed that they would be well advised to give protective notice to their staff. Indeed, the Secretary of State will write to MLAs next month to remind them of their responsibilities. Those are their responsibilities, not ours. MLAs are using public money to pay their staff; the Government are not doing it. MLAs have responsibilities in that regard. A considerable number of staff, with careers and commitments, are at the receiving end of the allowances, but the costs have spiralled for long enough. The money will stop, as indeed will the function and responsibilities of the MLAs. They will be written to setting out clearly their responsibilities. As I say, the responsibility is theirs, not the Government’s, and they cannot walk away from it. I wholly concur with what has been said about support for policing. As was said when we discussed the Bill, the pledge of allegiance is in place and we have no plans to put further hurdles in the way of people joining the Executive. However, we need to move these matters forward in sequence. Today I watched the news from Northern Ireland, as I do every day, albeit it is from the BBC. The situation is not all one-sided. There is a lack of trust between the two communities that we need to do all we can to rebuild. I shall not pontificate on that one way or the other. We want them to work together; that is what these discussions are about. We want to assist them to gain the confidence to develop trust. It will not happen overnight but it will happen over time. If the prize is better governance, better services and more targeted law-making for the people of Northern Ireland, they should want that prize. Education has been mentioned. An order will be brought before this House. There is a prize regarding that order. If the relevant people say that that is the most important issue in Northern Ireland, they will get back into the Assembly before the 24th because they will have control of the order. That is the prize. They cannot keep saying, ““You are doing this to us””, given the prize that I have mentioned. I believe that the Government have said that we cannot force the MLAs into an Executive and a power-sharing arrangement. They must vote freely to do that. We can do everything short of forcing them. We can encourage them. I suspect that we sometimes offer them robust advice behind closed doors. Nevertheless, we cannot force them in that regard. But the consequences of the MLAs not undertaking their responsibilities is that others have to undertake those for them. It is no good their talking about ““the British Ministers”” as though we were foreigners from another planet. They are part of the United Kingdom and that is how they are going to stay until they decide otherwise. We will not stop the reform programme, whether that concerns local government, water charges, rating reform or the school curriculum. If MLAs want to control the reform programme, they know what they need to do—get back into the Assembly and into an Executive. They can do that. We shall not stop them doing that. That is the reality. As I say, I sincerely hope that I am the last Minister to bring such an order to the Committee. The order can lapse if the Members go back. In that case it will have no effect whatever. Immediately they go through the relevant process, everything will be devolved back to the Assembly and the measure will fail. However, if they do not do that, the Assembly will fail. As someone said, it is the close of a book or the close of a chapter; you cannot sugar-coat it any more than that. On Question, Motion agreed to.