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Northern Ireland

My Lords, I will choose to answer the one easy question; d’Hondt is the formula for dividing up the proportions of the parties in the Executive to be Ministers. It is a well-known formula; I do not have a visual aid to explain how it works. It has worked before in Northern Ireland; it works elsewhere. Everyone accepts that it is a fair way to distribute seats. On the other two questions, Annexe B speaks for itself. Northern Ireland has different rights and rules, and there is different legislation relating to equality. There are several mentions of that. Secondly, as far as the noble Lord’s first question is concerned: again, why put further hurdles in the way of parties who are coming to an agreement?