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Northern Ireland Assembly Members Bill [HL]

No dual mandate operates with regard to the Welsh Assembly or the Scottish Parliament. It proved possible to achieve that objective quite some time ago informally by agreement between the parties. It has not been possible to achieve that agreement informally in Northern Ireland. Legislation, therefore, will be necessary. As we stand at the moment, legislation is not necessary with regard to Scotland and Wales, because it has been done by agreement. Of course, doing it by agreement means that things can be flexible, whereas legislation is not flexible. Unfortunately, there is no chance of being able to do this by agreement in Northern Ireland.