Northern Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time)

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. He is being generous with his time, if little else. I concur with the remarks made by the hon. Member for South Staffordshire (Sir Patrick Cormack) as far as they relate to the timetable, but if this is dealing with amendments in an exemplary fashion, he is setting the bar rather low. The Secretary of State speaks about respect for David Ford, then deals with his actions in the Assembly debate in a way that I think rather lacks a degree of respect, which I am looking for. If the Secretary of State is seeking to persuade me not to press the amendments, he is going about it in the wrong way. Is he really saying that, because of that one speech, the position of the Alliance party is bound thereafter for all time, or that I, as a Front-Bench spokesman in this House, should necessarily be bound? If that is the height of his argument, it is not impressive.