Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill

May I first apologise for being a little late for the wind-up speeches on Second Reading? I was s...

Does the hon. Gentleman realise that that is not what would happen if there was a functioning dev...

I said that I was not necessarily fixed on how we define the roles, but we are not in a normal si...

I shall speak to new clause 7, which is about equal rights in Northern Ireland. I hope that Membe...

Can the hon. Lady confirm something that Northern Ireland Amnesty told me, which is that, yes, po...

I know that the hon. Lady also feels strongly about this issue. If I may, however, I shall now de...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will shortly, but I feel that the House wants to hear the figures that I am about to give.

I am very grateful to the hon. Lady. She will be well aware of the Supreme Court ruling in, I thi...

The hon. Lady has raised an important point. That court judgment in June 2018 held us all to acco...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will happily give way, but I do want to make some progress, because I know that other Members w...

Surely, in those circumstances, one just changes the politicians through the ballot box.

With respect, I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has read the legislation on which we are voting...

I say this to be helpful to others in the House. I went to Belfast recently—to Stormont—and I had...

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. Sadly, on both issues opinion polls show us that the...

rose—

I happily give way.

That means I will not have to chunter from a sedentary position, so I am grateful to the hon. Lad...

I am fascinated by the poll the right hon. Gentleman cites. Let me give him the direct data from ...

Will the hon. Lady also make it very clear that the rather barbaric and antiquated laws that exis...

I share the passion of the right hon. Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry) on this matter and increa...

I rise to speak against new clause 7 on the basis that it is clearly inappropriate. It goes far b...

It is very kind of my hon. Friend to give way. On the subject of emergency Bills, what could be m...

I absolutely agree that this is an issue that requires the greatest of care and that needs to be ...

Not only does the new clause go against the will of a great many of us in this House, but it also...

The hon. Gentleman makes a pertinent point, which I shall refer to further.

I think the hon...

My hon. Friend appears to be arguing for the continuation of a human rights border down the Irish...

What I am arguing—reluctantly, I need to repeat many of the points I made in the Chamber yesterda...

My hon. Friend is being generous in giving way. The recent Supreme Court decision requested that ...

I am happy to address such points. I accept that several justices set out their thoughts on abort...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No. I have taken several interventions, and I will, if I may, proceed.

New clause 7 goes mu...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

No, I will continue, if I may.

New clause 7, which refers to the decriminalisation of secti...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I have said no, and I am going to continue. I have taken many interventions, and many others want...

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate in Committee. Amendment 15, in the name of ...

On a point of order, Dame Rosie. I would be grateful for a more comradely debate, rather than the...

I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order, and I remind everybody that moderation in language ...

If we need to moderate debate because I have called on people to put themselves forward and seek ...

The right hon. Gentleman is referring to a judgment where the majority of the Supreme Court, by f...

I respect what the hon. Lady said, but I point out to her that section 4(6) of the Human Rights A...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Because we have a working group that was set up by the Executive and that has brought forward pro...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

With respect to the hon. Member for North Down, the party that is preventing this issue from bein...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

In respect of the issue relating to sex crime, I agree with the hon. Member for North Down that w...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

That is why we are unable to examine the laws.

Give way!

In respect of the proposals before us, it is important that we consider carefully what we are doi...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

The hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) referred earlier to a border in the Irish sea. Let me a...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

What is the point of devolution?

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

It was this House that decided that Northern Ireland should have devolved responsibility for abor...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

It was this House that decided that the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive had the power to ...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

In respect of—

Order. I do not think that the right hon. Gentleman is going to give way, so rather than just sho...

I am very much aware of that, Dame Rosie. I have taken some interventions but there is a lot that...

Rarely do we get such fine, sweeping oratory in a Bill Committee. That is probably one of the few...

I do not understand why Hart has not been done. There was huge courage within the Northern Irelan...

My right hon. Friend makes a very good point, which elegantly exemplifies what I am going on abou...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Before I move neatly on, I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman.

I have signed the hon. Gentleman’s excellent amendment, but does he not understand from the legis...

I am not really sure that that is the case. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the guidance, which I a...

Some of the concern is that this is actually not that straightforward. The terms of reference tha...

I do understand that. One point I made on Second Reading was that I was slightly disappointed tha...

One thing we have discussed in the Select Committee is the scourge of diabetes. In Northern Irela...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I do not want to labour the point, but I feel the need to...

I make no apology for going back to the Hart inquiry, because there are hundreds of victims of hi...

The purpose of amendments tends to be to elicit such answers from Ministers, and it will be very ...

I would not of course challenge the Chair on the grouping of these amendments—that would be poor—...

When we went to Northern Ireland with Amnesty International, we learned that people cannot be giv...

I am grateful for that intervention. The right hon. Lady is of course right: the issue of advice,...

My hon. Friend has brilliantly exposed the hypocrisy of our country on the international stage. S...

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Today, we have seen Sarah Ewart bravely take on the role ...

Before I speak to Government amendments 23 and 24, it is worth taking a moment to remind right ho...

I recognise that intervening on a Secretary of State is quite an attractive prospect for many Bac...

I certainly intend to ensure that there is time for the hon. Gentleman to speak in support of his...

Is the Minister saying clearly that she is not anticipating or encouraging civil servants, under ...

I will come to the specific points that the hon. Gentleman raised, because they are the subject o...

Victims’ pensions.

I will talk about that specifically, because obviously, although it is another devolved matter, w...

May I press the Minister on the question of the victims of terrorism? There is a very strong inte...

I appreciate that there is confusion around this matter. I asked for advice very early on in rega...

One of the powers of this House and the Government relates to those who are becoming victims—the ...

I know how passionately my right hon. Friend feels about this; and may I tell him that I feel pas...

The academic Paul Jennings, of Queen Mary University of London, has said that the new clause tabl...

I understand all the points that the hon. Gentleman has made, but the new clause is flawed. It is...

I hear the Secretary of State say that, yet I see officials in the Northern Ireland Department of...

Let me say very gently to the hon. Lady that I disagree with her interpretation of what the new c...

I welcome what my right hon. Friend is saying, but may I ask her to address the question I put to...

Civil servants will not be able to change the law: they do not have the power to change the law a...

Can my right hon. Friend reassure me on two things: first, that new clause 7 is a matter of consc...

I am reliably informed that this is a matter of conscience from the point of view of the party wh...

I am rather encouraged by the line my right hon. Friend is taking on this, because it is about gu...

I appreciate my hon. Friend’s comments. I well understand that there is great strength of feeling...

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for the comparative brevity of her remarks, and for her w...

I rise to speak in support of new clause 7, and I urge hon. Members on both sides of the House to...

I thank the Secretary of State for her comments about amendment 22 and simply urge her to continu...

I had not intended to speak, but I listened to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and my...

I am standing up for what I believe.

Of course that is what this place is for, but my right hon. Friend, in essence, said that all the...

I absolutely did not say that, although it is obviously something that many of us now seek to do....

My right hon. Friend does not have a unique understanding of what happens in Northern Ireland. Ma...

I am aware that time is short, so I will make a couple of short points.

Following on from t...

I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

7.1 pm<...

I call Stella Creasy to move new clause 7 formally.

I move new clause 7 formally. We love whom we love. We all want control over our bodies. Let us c...

We have done that bit.