I would not of course challenge the Chair on the grouping of these amendments—that would be poor—but I would gently say that two hours for the range of amendments before us on a great many subjects is not sufficient. This is not satisfactory, and I hope that the Government will learn that we have a deep interest in the issues across Northern Ireland and will give us more time.
I have worked with the hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) on a number of health issues in England and Wales, and the points he raised in his amendments about health inequalities across Northern Ireland were well made. I particularly want to highlight amendment 22, especially in relation to pensions, in the name of the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine). Such a measure is in the gift of the Secretary of State, and we certainly wish to see it progressed.
Most of my comments are going to be about new clause 7, and I will start with same-sex marriage. I was proud to be a co-sponsor of the Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for St Helens North (Conor McGinn), and I was a witness of his speech last March, which was one of the best I have heard in this Chamber. I should say that, although I am pleased to be married, he beautifully encapsulated the equality point when he
told us the heartfelt response made by one of the people he was speaking to in south Armagh. The man said that, frankly, gay people had the right
“to be as miserable as the rest of us.”
With respect to the fact that people who love each other cannot build a happy life together as a married couple in Northern Ireland, he asked in that speech:
“Does anyone think that is fair? Does anyone think that is right? Does anyone think that can continue?”—[Official Report, 28 March 2018; Vol. 638, c. 791-792.]
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The will of this House was clear from our support. I am delighted that his endeavours were recognised this month: in the PinkNews awards, he was politician of the year, along with his friend Lord Hayward, who I am glad to see has joined us in the Gallery. That was much deserved; they were both very pretty in pink that night. They are not going to give up, and we on the Labour Benches are right with them.
Turning to women’s reproductive rights, my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) has already changed the Government’s position with regard to facilitating women in Northern Ireland’s access to abortion services in England and Wales. Civil servants are not informing women of their rights to those services, and are leaving it up to non-governmental organisations to tell women how to access that provision, which is still available to them. Not doing something is a political act and has consequences, and that needs to be recognised in the provisions of the Bill going through the House tonight. As an elected Member of this House who supported a measure in good faith, I find it unacceptable that civil servants in Belfast do not pass on that information because there was no law change in Northern Ireland, and that somehow that is considered acceptable.