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Northern Ireland Policing Board (Northern Ireland) Order 2007

I thank the Minister for putting that beyond peradventure. The Minister referred to the Policing Board as being one success story. That is right. But before the Policing Board was formed, there was a long and very delicate negotiation between the then Secretary of State and a wide variety of political parties in Northern Ireland. In the course of that, there were very clear understandings worked out between the Secretary of State and those political parties, one of which I shall mention. It was absolutely clear at the time, in the understanding that we—by which I mean, not just me but another political leader as well—had with the Secretary of State, that in the construction of the board, in fulfilment of the statutory obligation of ensuring that, taken as a whole, it would be representative of the community in Northern Ireland, it would have to have a unionist majority; not just among the political members, but a unionist majority overall. I mention that as just one of the understandings that were arrived at, at that time. I hope that when the Secretary of State comes to make appointments, as he will have to do in whatever eventuality, he will take care to stick clearly to the understandings that were arrived at by his predecessor and does not just proceed with the cavalier attitude that is associated with so much that the present Secretary of State does. Obviously, those remarks are not addressed to the Minister. They are not matters within his purview. I am making them in order that they be reflected and heard elsewhere. Just in case the present Secretary of State thinks that he has a free hand, I must point out to him that there are very clear understandings underlying this operation that were part of the reason why the Policing Board has been a success. That is like the reason why, although I did not mention it with regard to the earlier orders, cross-border matters, which were once so sensitive, have not been so since 1998 because we took care then to get the architecture right. That has turned things which were once controversial into things that are no longer controversial. The same is true with regard to policing which, in many ways, was even more sensitive. Part of the reason for the success of the Policing Board was that its formation was preceded by careful negotiation and a series of understandings which have enabled it to work successfully. I very much hope that that continues in future.