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Northern Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time)

I do not know whether that is a clarification, but I will accept it for what it was. I was not going to come to this point immediately, but the former Secretary of State referred to it and it was explicit in what my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire said, although not in what the Secretary of State said. Normally, these three-and-a-half-page constructed guillotines are taken automatically by the Executive, who have become so accustomed to them. The guillotine motion has been included in the time for the Second Reading debate. This has been a long-argued case—in respect of almost every Northern Ireland Bill, too. It behoved the Secretary of State’s predecessors to say, "If you discuss the process of Parliament and scrutiny, you are taking away from the consideration of the substantive issue before the House." That is an entirely artificial construct. What does it suit? The Secretary of State made no case that this was an absolute emergency that demanded delivery on this day. When asked, the former Secretary of State got perilously close to stating the need for "hit you on the head" guillotine motions in emergency legislation. In fact, when my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough was speaking, a piece of paper fluttered on to the Bench, and he kindly allowed me to read it. It said, "Peter—would be helpful if you start to wind up. You’ve had 20 minutes, eating into debate time." I cannot imagine which Government Whip could have gone as far as to suggest that an hon. Member may not make his case. But that case was not used by the Secretary of State. All the arguments have been presented—in my speech, in those of Labour Members and in those of Members who represent Ireland—[Hon. Members: "Northern Ireland!"] Northern Ireland, I should say. Those arguments have been about why this motion should not constrain the debate on Second Reading.