Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (Northern Ireland Political Parties) Order 2008

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord once again for bringing forward the order in a clear way, and in particular for paying attention to the loose ends, if I can put it like that, left over from our debate in May which the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, has not had time to answer in detail. I am sure that he would have done so tonight had he been here. We had a lengthy debate in May and a number of serious queries were raised, not because of the proposals but to make sure that the detail and the control mechanisms were in place. I am by no means an expert in detailed administration, but having looked through the order before us, it is clear that the Government and the department have taken a lot of trouble to try to cover every possibility. It is one thing in England, Wales and Scotland to make this work, but when you have two countries with a border between them, something the other three countries of the United Kingdom do not have, it becomes more difficult. I am sure that, in principle, this will work. It will be positive in funding parties and getting them adequate access to each other across the border, which I believe is right. I hope that one day we will have an Irish party, Fianna Fáil perhaps, organised in Northern Ireland. The Conservative Party is already there. One day, perhaps even the Labour Party will venture its toe into the water of Northern Ireland. If that is going to happen, I believe that we have here as near to a fair playing field as one gets in legislation and I support the order.