UK Parliament / Open data

Northern Ireland Bill

Debate on bills and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Wednesday, 4 March 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Shaun Woodward. The answering member was Owen Paterson.

Allocation of time motion. Amendment negatived on division (213 votes to 276). Main question agreed to. Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Committee stage. Clauses 1 to 5 agreed to. Schedules 1 to 6 agreed to. New clause debated. Bill reported without amendment. Third reading debate. Agreed to on question. Bill passed.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

488 c854-958

Session

2008-09

Northern Ireland Bill. Explanatory Notes Bill 62-EN also published.
Monday, 23 February 2009
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Peter Bone | 488 c879 (Link to this contribution) If the Secretary of State wants to agree to it, it may not have to go to a vote; otherwise, I will p...

Richard Shepherd | 488 c877-8 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether that is a clarification, but I will accept it for what it was. I was not goin...

Show all contributions (217)

David Heath | 488 c878 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, not least for exposing the collusion between Conservative and G...

Richard Shepherd | 488 c878-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has provided the emphasis on which I was going to build up to a conclusion. He is...

Peter Bone | 488 c879 (Link to this contribution) This has been an interesting debate on the amendment. As my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropsh...

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 488 c876 (Link to this contribution) Members of that Committee have acknowledged that the further they go into this issue, the deeper and...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c876-7 (Link to this contribution) That is the point. If the Secretary of State’s argument is that we want the legislation in place for...

Richard Shepherd | 488 c877 (Link to this contribution) Everyone who has spoken and everyone present in the Chamber wishes Northern Ireland well and hopes t...

Owen Paterson | 488 c877 (Link to this contribution) May I clarify the issue again? I am just being brutally practical. Sadly, the Government have contro...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c879 (Link to this contribution) I fear that I will have to disappoint the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone). I hate also to ...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c889-90 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. Despite the considerable work that is done, the fact of the matter is ...

Jeffrey M Donaldson | 488 c890 (Link to this contribution) Some issues remain to be resolved before devolution can take place, one of which is the need to reco...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c889 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may not be surprised to hear that I do not accept those figures. Northern Ireland...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c886-9 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The Bill will provide an essential stepping...

Christopher Fraser | 488 c889 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State accept that the costs of setting up a new system run into hundreds of mi...

Lord Cormack | 488 c879 (Link to this contribution) I made my argument today in sorrow, not in anger. Why cannot the Secretary of State accept the valid...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c879-80 (Link to this contribution) Again, I am afraid that I am going to disappoint the hon. Gentleman and resist acquiring that partic...

Denis Murphy | 488 c892 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, in the main, the fact that the dissident republicans have not be...

Owen Paterson | 488 c891-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for outlining the main provisions in the Bill and the Govern...

Lord Cormack | 488 c873 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a most excellent point about Monday. Would it not serve the interests of th...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c873 (Link to this contribution) Yes, that is an eminently sensible approach. I am sure that the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South...

Baroness Hoey | 488 c873 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael), who said that h...

David Heath | 488 c873 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Lady about the Conservative Opposition’s view on the subject, but I am afraid ...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c870-1 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely so. If we make legislation in haste, we make it badly. Moreover, the approach ado...

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 488 c871 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman be very careful in what he says? The elephant could jump down from the Galle...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c871-2 (Link to this contribution) It is interesting that they made an effort to be here. I do not want to labour my point, but this re...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c872 (Link to this contribution) As ever, it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay). I unexpectedly ...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c872 (Link to this contribution) The agent.

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c872-3 (Link to this contribution) —the agent for elephants, whether in the room or elsewhere. I look forward to a day when the elephan...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c876 (Link to this contribution) Like the on-the-runs legislation. The Secretary of State’s argument about the demands from the Assem...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c875 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. That is the only way that the devolution of policing and justice will work in Northern Irela...

Lord Cormack | 488 c875 (Link to this contribution) Like the on-the-runs legislation.

Owen Paterson | 488 c873 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady may have missed my earlier comments. The original plan, which was appalling, was to pu...

Baroness Hoey | 488 c874 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that, but that is a little play with words. We are talking about seri...

Baroness Hoey | 488 c873 (Link to this contribution) I would have made more or less the same comment, but the hon. Gentleman puts it slightly better than...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c875 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the arguments from both Front-Bench spokesmen, but I am unconvinced by the Secret...

Lord Cormack | 488 c875 (Link to this contribution) And trust.

Peter Bone | 488 c874 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a powerful point. Does she accept that if my amendment were accepted, Second Rea...

Baroness Hoey | 488 c874 (Link to this contribution) In my own way I was getting round to saying precisely that. The Prime Minister may not be in the cou...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c895 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman noticed, but in the Secretary of State’s speech, he relied ...

Owen Paterson | 488 c892-5 (Link to this contribution) I entirely endorse the hon. Gentleman’s comments; I am about to make similar comments myself. I part...

Mark Durkan | 488 c895-7 (Link to this contribution) Yet again, we have a Second Reading debate on a Bill that addresses the devolution of justice and po...

Owen Paterson | 488 c895 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Secretary of State will have noted those comments and will reply later. We think ...

Mark Durkan | 488 c897 (Link to this contribution) Yes, we have concerns about that. The Assembly, Members of the Assembly and the Executive face budge...

Christopher Fraser | 488 c897 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept the point on additional costs, which I made earlier to the Secretary ...

Mark Durkan | 488 c897 (Link to this contribution) I make no apologies. I used the phrase "ugly scaffolding", as the right hon. Gentleman may remember ...

Jeffrey M Donaldson | 488 c897 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman’s reference to the Good Friday agreement a reference to the "ugly scaffolding"...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c854-6 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That the following provisions shall apply to the proceedings on the Northern Ireland ...

Speaker | 488 c854 (Link to this contribution) I inform the House that I have selected amendment (a), which stands in the name of the hon. Member f...

Jeffrey M Donaldson | 488 c863 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Lord Hain | 488 c863 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with my hon. Friend on this matter. I am not going to repeat the points that I made, ...

Mark Durkan | 488 c863 (Link to this contribution) One of the reasons we need more time to consider this Bill is that Members such as my right hon. Fri...

Lord Hain | 488 c863 (Link to this contribution) The House will have plenty of time to scrutinise this legislation—[Interruption.] This is a largely ...

Peter Bone | 488 c867-8 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for my error. Of course, I agree with my hon. Friend. Standing Orders have been ignored...

Lord Cormack | 488 c867 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend hold hard a minute? Wednesday is the day when the Northern Ireland Committee alw...

Peter Bone | 488 c864-6 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment (a), in paragraph 1(1), leave out ‘at today’s sitting’ and insert"‘in two al...

Lord Hain | 488 c864 (Link to this contribution) No, I did not say that. Fellow Chelsea supporters should be more charitable to each other on these o...

Jeffrey M Donaldson | 488 c864 (Link to this contribution) I am curious to understand what the right hon. Gentleman means by the process falling over. Is he aw...

Lord Hain | 488 c863 (Link to this contribution) I have to give way to a fellow Chelsea supporter.

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c868 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is an indication of the complexity of the matter that the Nort...

Peter Bone | 488 c868 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that intervention. I agree entirely and I do not see why the Gove...

Peter Bone | 488 c868-9 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful for that intervention. It was extraordinary that those two documents, which have ...

Baroness Hoey | 488 c868 (Link to this contribution) I have heard enough of what the hon. Gentleman has said to agree with him on this point. Northern Ir...

Lord Cormack | 488 c870 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that many Bills passed by this House in relatively recent years—such ...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c870 (Link to this contribution) It is incredible that successive Secretaries of State should suggest that the whole process would co...

Lord Hain | 488 c870 (Link to this contribution) Given my hon. Friend’s threat to run naked, I am rather worried about his expression of love for me....

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c870 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Belfast, East (Mr. Robinson) speaks for his people, and he is correct abou...

Peter Robinson | 488 c870 (Link to this contribution) I support the Bill, but I also support allowing more time to discuss it. The critical feature for me...

Owen Paterson | 488 c857 (Link to this contribution) I was first alerted to the imminence of the Bill when during the week before the recess, through the...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c856-7 (Link to this contribution) It might help if I briefly spell out why we have tabled the motion and the parliamentary timetable f...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c859 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, but I am sure he will want to correct what ...

Eddie McGrady | 488 c859 (Link to this contribution) Not at the moment. They could not agree to that as they were indulging in a partisan stand-off over...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c859 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Eddie McGrady | 488 c858-9 (Link to this contribution) Let me say at the outset that, on behalf of my party, I oppose the programme motion. The House has ...

Lord Cormack | 488 c860 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, to which I was going to allude. There has never been a thinne...

Bob Spink | 488 c860 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making excellent points. Would he like to reinforce them by acknowledging that...

Lord Cormack | 488 c859-60 (Link to this contribution) I will not speak for long, but I want to make a couple of what I hope will be reasonably cogent and ...

Eddie McGrady | 488 c859 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has intervened on the point of the political manoeuvring of last year. In my opin...

Gregory Campbell | 488 c860-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is cogently outlining the need for more time. Is not the nub of the point that there ...

Lord Hain | 488 c861-2 (Link to this contribution) I always follow, with great respect, the contributions made by the hon. Member for South Staffordshi...

Lord Cormack | 488 c861 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to comment on the timetable for devolution; that is very much in the hands of the Asse...

Lord Hain | 488 c862 (Link to this contribution) I have a great deal of respect for the hon. Gentleman, but I must respectfully disagree with him. Ha...

Lord Cormack | 488 c862 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman knows full well that I admire the part that he played in achieving what was...

Lord Hain | 488 c862 (Link to this contribution) I just want to make these points and then I shall give way, because I do not wish to speak for too l...

Lord Hain | 488 c863 (Link to this contribution) I am not taking this Bill through, and I was talking about what I had had to do—I had had to test th...

Richard Shepherd | 488 c862 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman mentioned that he has taken emergency Bills on Northern Ireland through the...

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 488 c863 (Link to this contribution) How can the right hon. Gentleman justify one day of debate in this House and two days of debate in a...

Paul Goggins | 488 c954 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, it is broadly accepted, certainly in the conversations that I have with the Lord Chief Justi...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c954 (Link to this contribution) As previously indicated, and for the reasons that I gave, we will not press the amendment to a vote....

Paul Goggins | 488 c953 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is entirely right. This does not apply only to producing the annual report....

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c954 (Link to this contribution) It is also worth pointing out, further to the intervention by my right hon. Friend the Member for La...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c950 (Link to this contribution) I understand that we have 17 minutes left, and I know that one or two other hon. Members wish to con...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c950 (Link to this contribution) I will not detain the House long. I have a lot of sympathy for the predicament in which the hon. Mem...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c950 (Link to this contribution) I understand my hon. Friend’s concerns on the matter. We have carried out a great deal of consultati...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c950 (Link to this contribution) I genuinely really want to help the hon. Gentleman. With huge respect, again, the criminal justice r...

Peter Robinson | 488 c951 (Link to this contribution) That would mean removing the Lord Chief Justice, the most senior Law Officer, from the most importan...

Peter Robinson | 488 c950-1 (Link to this contribution) It is sufficient to say that I am not entirely persuaded by the argument that has been advanced so f...

Jonathan Djanogly | 488 c951 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that there are conventions that deal with such conflicts?

Laurence Robertson | 488 c951 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Sir Alan. My hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Djanogly) is not a memb...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c951 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to have to say it in open Committee to the hon. Gentleman, but it is not permissible for ...

Lord Cormack | 488 c952 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friends the Members for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) and for North Shropshire (Mr. Paterson), ...

Paul Goggins | 488 c952 (Link to this contribution) It is time for a pause, to breathe and reflect. If the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) wi...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c952 (Link to this contribution) The fact that there was a review several years ago does not bind us today. That said, we try to deal...

Paul Goggins | 488 c952 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that. The hon. Gentleman and I spend a lot of time in Committee together, and I ha...

Jonathan Djanogly | 488 c952 (Link to this contribution) The Minister keeps referring to the review. Although we appreciate that there has been a review and ...

Paul Goggins | 488 c952-3 (Link to this contribution) Any party is, of course, entitled to raise debate in this place; that is what this place is about. H...

Jonathan Djanogly | 488 c953 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased that the Minister is admitting that we will now be pulling away from the system that ex...

Paul Goggins | 488 c953 (Link to this contribution) The DPP will be answerable to the Assembly for the use of resources and the administration of its of...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c951 (Link to this contribution) The instruction given on the Bench Note is that the Committee stage Front-Bench team would comprise ...

Jeffrey M Donaldson | 488 c953 (Link to this contribution) I chaired the Assembly and Executive Review Committee for a time. When we considered these matters, ...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c938-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. To pick up the remarks that the hon. Member ...

Lord Cormack | 488 c939 (Link to this contribution) If I may say so, the Secretary of State is replying to the debate on the amendments in exemplary fas...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c939 (Link to this contribution) I hear the hon. Gentleman, although, as he knows, we had that debate earlier. Indeed, for reasons th...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c939-40 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. He is being generous with his time, if littl...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c940 (Link to this contribution) It is difficult to respond to that rationally, but I will do my best. I simply say to the hon. Gentl...

Peter Robinson | 488 c940-1 (Link to this contribution) May I add to my voice to the attempt to end any doubt on the part of the hon. Member for Orkney and ...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c943 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State has dealt with one of our amendments—that relating to the independence of the...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c943 (Link to this contribution) With respect, I think that when the hon. Gentleman reads Hansard, he will see that I did in fact add...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c943 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: That schedule 2 be the Second schedule to ...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c947 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but silence would have effected the same result.

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c945 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way.

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c944 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a small contribution to this clause stand part debate. It was interesting that the hon....

Paul Goggins | 488 c946-7 (Link to this contribution) I have a very long speech, but the House will be delighted to learn that I do not intend to use it a...

Alasdair McDonnell | 488 c945 (Link to this contribution) Could the hon. Gentleman perhaps distinguish between short-term abuse or mismanagement by the curren...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c945 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that that intervention really clarifies things or helps to advance the case that the h...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c947 (Link to this contribution) We now come to amendment 18.

Eddie McGrady | 488 c947 (Link to this contribution) With the permission of the House, I should like to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Laurence Robertson | 488 c948 (Link to this contribution) We have not had a huge amount of time, but we have studied the matter to the extent that we were abl...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c948 (Link to this contribution) I know how strongly the hon. Gentleman feels, and I hear that he may be proposing to divide the Hous...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c948 (Link to this contribution) Well—

Jonathan Djanogly | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Laurence Robertson | 488 c947 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 10, in clause 3, page 2, line 17, at end add—

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c947 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment 11, in schedule 3, page 15, line 12, at end ins...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c924 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that at present the Assembly works in such a way that if a party ...

Mark Durkan | 488 c924 (Link to this contribution) I hear what the right hon. Gentleman says, but I have also heard him say on many occasions that the ...

Peter Robinson | 488 c923 (Link to this contribution) So that the hon. Gentleman does not put an unhelpful construction on it, let me explain why the outc...

Mark Durkan | 488 c923 (Link to this contribution) As I said on Second Reading, and as Members will know very well, the SDLP does not have much of an a...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c926 (Link to this contribution) I have tabled three amendments, and I wish to amplify them. I still hope that I will be able to hear...

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 488 c925 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) is learning so many lessons from the DUP...

Mark Durkan | 488 c924-5 (Link to this contribution) I have observed before that irony in politics is usually just hypocrisy with panache. A Democratic U...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c921 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: amendment 25, in schedule 1, page 6, line ...

Paul Goggins | 488 c919-20 (Link to this contribution) It will be a different arrangement for removal because there is a different arrangement for appointm...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c919 (Link to this contribution) The fact remains, however, that, on the face of it, the Justice Minister will be left in a different...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c930 (Link to this contribution) I accept that the right hon. Gentleman makes that point in good faith, but first, it concentrates mo...

Peter Robinson | 488 c930 (Link to this contribution) Would the hon. Gentleman not accept that although the situation for the Justice Minister is differen...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c931 (Link to this contribution) Again, I say to the hon. Gentleman that we are not just talking about frivolous removal. We could be...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c930 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman describes a situation that it was never intended would occur, and nor does the le...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c931 (Link to this contribution) I put that question back to the hon. Gentleman. I have spoken to number of Members of the Legislativ...

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 488 c931 (Link to this contribution) Surely this Minister would be more protected than any other Minister, because a nominating Minister ...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c926-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for setting the record straight, but that does not detract from ...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c926 (Link to this contribution) I understand entirely the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. With reference to the events of l...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c929-30 (Link to this contribution) I wish to speak to amendments 2, 3 and 4, which stand in my name and the names of my right hon. and ...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c927-9 (Link to this contribution) I want to speak fairly briefly, because we are short of time and I raised one or two issues on Secon...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c934-5 (Link to this contribution) I believe that the reason it has not been used is the very reason that I have given. I therefore bel...

Peter Robinson | 488 c934 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that that mechanism is already available for other uses in the Assembly? ...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c934 (Link to this contribution) There is a limiting mechanism already, which is twofold. First, for a motion to be tabled in the fir...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c934 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has moved on from the point on which I wanted to intervene, which was the fact th...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c932-4 (Link to this contribution) I want to deal first with amendments 5, 6 and 8, tabled by the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Rober...

David Simpson | 488 c932 (Link to this contribution) I take it, then, that the hon. Gentleman is saying that his party voted against in the Committee. T...

Mark Durkan | 488 c932 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman cites the report, but misrepresents the SDLP’s position. We did not endorse that ...

David Simpson | 488 c932 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman shakes his head, but members of his party are represented on the Committee. The ...

Mark Durkan | 488 c932 (Link to this contribution) indicated dissent.

David Simpson | 488 c931-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) seemed to think that he had prevented me from speaki...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c937 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) has given the right hon. Member for Lagan Valle...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c937 (Link to this contribution) I acknowledge that, but I think that the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland wants to intervene as w...

David Cairns | 488 c938 (Link to this contribution) May I encourage my right hon. Friend to continue along the path and treat what the hon. Member for O...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c938 (Link to this contribution) With huge respect to the hon. Gentleman, we have not devolved our responsibility. I am not asking th...

Jeffrey M Donaldson | 488 c937 (Link to this contribution) May I remind the Secretary of State that, on many occasions in many debates in this House, when righ...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c937 (Link to this contribution) Let me try to find a way to come back to that. Amendment 2 seeks to prevent the Assembly from resol...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c936 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State will recall that I made that very point in my remarks on Second Reading. Howe...

Lord Deben | 488 c897-8 (Link to this contribution) Will the Assembly not have to take into account the issue of cost when it considers whether it wishe...

Mark Durkan | 488 c898 (Link to this contribution) First, I take the right hon. Gentleman’s point. This is not in itself a budgetary debate, and it is ...

Speaker | 488 c898 (Link to this contribution) Order. Perhaps I might encourage all Members to come back to debating the Bill under discussion.

Mark Durkan | 488 c898-900 (Link to this contribution) I am very much on the subject of the debate, Madam Deputy Speaker, because the Bill provides for a n...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c900 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will have observed that our amendments address not only what will happen after an...

Mark Durkan | 488 c900 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of the amendments tabled by the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues, but I think that our a...

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 488 c900 (Link to this contribution) Is it not also true that now is the time for the SDLP to stand up against Sinn Fein, give leadership...

Mark Durkan | 488 c901 (Link to this contribution) We have always stood up against Sinn Fein. It is not us who are conniving and colloguing with Sinn F...

Mark Durkan | 488 c901-2 (Link to this contribution) Simply because experience, including of how parties have dealt with this issue, shows us that it wil...

Sammy Wilson | 488 c901 (Link to this contribution) Before the hon. Gentleman does so, may I ask about the picture he has painted of what he considers t...

Gregory Campbell | 488 c902 (Link to this contribution) As for whether the option would be the Justice Ministry or any other option, does the hon. Gentleman...

Mark Durkan | 488 c906 (Link to this contribution) I have used it only once.

David Cairns | 488 c906-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend says that he has used it only once, but today he referred to Hugh Hefner. When I hear...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c904-6 (Link to this contribution) I shall certainly curtail my remarks substantially. Several points arose from the speech by the hon...

David Cairns | 488 c906 (Link to this contribution) I rise to support the Bill. This is my first speech from the Back Benches in nearly four years, and ...

Lord Cormack | 488 c903 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I apologise to you and to the hon. Gentleman who is speakin...

Speaker | 488 c904 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the whole House is aware that the clock is ticking. The hon. Gentleman has made the p...

Mark Durkan | 488 c902-3 (Link to this contribution) That is not what I want to achieve; I want to achieve devolution that happens once and for all and f...

Alistair Carmichael | 488 c903 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) has just offered the House a comprehensive analysis of some ...

Lord Cormack | 488 c908 (Link to this contribution) It depends how long that is.

David Cairns | 488 c908-9 (Link to this contribution) —and I hope that we do not hear a repetition of the phrase that it will not happen within our politi...

Peter Robinson | 488 c909-12 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Members for Inverclyde (David Cairns) and for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Car...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c916-7 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Gentleman will allow me, we want to return to that matter in greater detail in Com...

Paul Goggins | 488 c917-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank everyone who has participated in the Second Reading debate this afternoon. One of the import...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c919 (Link to this contribution) Our concern is this: if there is no model in place, what happens then?

Paul Goggins | 488 c919 (Link to this contribution) The parties themselves will have to determine the model beyond May 2012. We are devolving policing a...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c912-3 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the politicians of Northern Ireland on reaching the agreement that meant that this Bi...

Lord Cormack | 488 c914-5 (Link to this contribution) I am particularly grateful to the hon. Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) for the gracious way i...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c915-6 (Link to this contribution) Let me start by saying that the Bill is extremely complicated. It may be short and quite technical, ...

Peter Robinson | 488 c916 (Link to this contribution) If the Attorney-General were to appear before the Lord Chief Justice, what position would the Lord C...

Lord Cormack | 488 c950 (Link to this contribution) I want to be helpful. I understand my hon. Friend’s concern, and I admire his assiduous work for Nor...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) I am always delighted to engage with the hon. Gentleman, but with huge respect, given the importance...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the way in which the Secretary of State is attempting to persuade me not to press ...

Jonathan Djanogly | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend. Does he agree that the model being adopted is more or less the same as the o...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) Our great difficulty with the Bill as it stands is that we believe that the DPP will be accountable ...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) Surprise!

Laurence Robertson | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) I can respond very simply to my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Djanogly). We have of cou...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) Order. I have to maintain some semblance of order here. The hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertso...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c890-1 (Link to this contribution) I will of course use this opportunity to endorse what the right hon. Gentleman says about the work a...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c947-8 (Link to this contribution) We have reached the amendments rather earlier than I had anticipated, but I am not complaining about...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c949 (Link to this contribution) Certainly.

Alasdair McDonnell | 488 c943-4 (Link to this contribution) We are opposed to clause 2, and schedules 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, standing part of the Bill. In our view, ...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c948 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Gentleman had time to consider how he can square the proposals in his amendment with th...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c935-6 (Link to this contribution) I begin by thanking hon. Members for their support on Second Reading, which sent an important messag...

Andrew Mackinlay | 488 c869-70 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone). I agree with everything th...

Shaun Woodward | 488 c941-3 (Link to this contribution) I think that what the right hon. Gentleman says is entirely fair, but I understand why there is conc...

Laurence Robertson | 488 c945-6 (Link to this contribution) I wish briefly to place on record our opinion that this part of the Bill is actually the most agreea...