Northern Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time)

I am grateful for the way in which the Secretary of State is attempting to persuade me not to press the amendment to a Division, but we have discussed the issue as far as parliamentary time would allow. He tried, very gently, to persuade me not to push the case, so I will respond as gently as I can: we have all been put in a difficult position, not only by today’s unnecessarily tight timetable, but by the timetable under which the Bill was laid before Parliament. I know that the Secretary of State delayed its introduction for one week, but we still had very little time to discuss it. Nevertheless, we have certainly consulted the document to which he refers, and we are concerned about the fact that the DPP would be in a difficult position if our amendment were not carried.