---

Northern Ireland

My Lords, under the rules of the House I believe that I have a choice of answering two of those six questions, so I will choose the two easy ones. There is no Plan B. If the noble Lord reads Hansard, he will see that the Statement said that if necessary we would formulate Plan B. There is no secret, hidden Plan B. If it all falls apart, we will formulate Plan B. I repeat what I said about academic selection in case I did not make myself clear. If there is agreement by 10 November and the Assembly is restored by26 March next year, a decision to ban academic selection will be taken by the Assembly on a cross-community vote. When we discussed the order recently we agreed that that matter would be left to the Assembly provided it was restored. If there is no agreement and no Assembly, academic selection will remain banned. That is the position. I cannot add to what I said on the elections. I do not answer for the Republic of Ireland; I answer for the United Kingdom Government. We shall discuss with the parties the best way of letting the people speak. That is their desire; the parties raised that themselves. There is a choice—an election or a referendum. That matter will be discussed in the weeks ahead.