I said that I was not necessarily fixed on how we define the roles, but we are not in a normal situation. We do not have the Executive or the Assembly to make those appointments; what we will end up with is a Secretary of State over here, with no accountability and no cross-community input, simply making that decision. I was suggesting that this would be a way to provide at least some scrutiny and accountability for these important appointments. The Bill to which we have just given a Second Reading actually specifies that the Secretary of State can effectively make those appointments herself. I accept that we cannot replicate every process that the Executive would have followed, but I am attempting at least to find some way to improve the situation over that which we have in the Bill.
Perhaps I can make a few remarks on the amendments tabled by the Chair of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison). It seems a bit discourteous to talk about his amendments before he has had a chance to discuss them, but this is my only chance so I guess I will do it anyway. Amendment 2 suggests some items that could be included in the Secretary of State’s guidance to the civil servants on which we really ought to see them take some action. As I said on Second Reading, ideally what we would get from this process would be some decisions that could not be taken before now because there has been no ministerial direction.
In terms not only of the items that my hon. Friend has suggested in amendment 2 in relation to the Hart report, which we have discussed at some length, but of all the various Brexit-related issues, we need as a House to be assured that in the event that any important
decisions need to be taken as a consequence of wherever Brexit goes over the next few months, there is a process in place whereby decisions can be taken for Northern Ireland.
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We do not want to end up accidentally in the horrible position where this Parliament acts for England, the Welsh Assembly acts for Wales and the Scottish Parliament acts for Scotland, taking key decisions on what might be new policy areas, such as fishing or agriculture, but Northern Irelanders cannot have those decisions taken on a timely and sensible basis. We all need to understand that somebody somewhere has the power to take those decisions—to put in place whatever new arrangements need to be made—in good time, so that we are not rushing around at the end of March, trying to find a short fudge to get us over the line. It would help if the Government clarified either that all those important issues in amendment 2 can be covered by the existing guidance, as drafted in the Bill, or that some other mechanism will be in place to take those important decisions.