Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (Northern Ireland Political Parties) Order 2007

My Lords, first, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bew, on his maiden speech. Secondly, I say in answer to the noble Lord, Lord Trimble, that my party never gave any concessions to Sinn Fein, as he has accused us of doing. For the first time in its history, Sinn Fein has had to sign up to support the police. It has also decided to sign up, or was brought to the point of doing so by my party, to support the courts of law and order, which it had never done previously. We welcome that. We said that, if it signed up to those things, we would take the matter further. Sinn Fein wanted to sign up only to ordinary police, which would have meant paramilitary policing in its style, not policing as we know it, and we all know what that means. For the first time in at least 35 years, the police have been able to enter 100 per cent republican areas in Northern Ireland; they were never able to do that under previous Administrations. For the first time, Sinn Fein has welcomed the chief of police to the Falls Road, which we all know is a 100 per cent republican area. That was never done before. So I do not see where the concessions lie or where we have given in. We have brought Sinn Fein along and things have changed whether we like it or not. Even to my surprise, things have changed for the better in Northern Ireland. People right across the religious and political divide in Northern Ireland have witnessed that and congratulated us on it. People from England and other parts of the world who have previously visited Northern Ireland have seen the change, too, and we look forward to greater changes. We know that there will be hurdles and difficulties. We are prepared for them and will have to face them as they arise, but, at the moment, things are moving, slowly but definitely. I rejoice in the fact that Sinn Fein was beaten in the Republic of Ireland, which weakened its case in Northern Ireland. A united Ireland is further off now than ever before because of the rejection by the southern electorate of the IRA. It never expected that, as we all know. We will continue to fight for the rights of the people in Northern Ireland, for the defence of the police and, by them, of the courts of law and order.