You will know, Dame Eleanor, as we know, that Northern Ireland works best when our communities feel fairly treated. Our amendments are about offering that fairness to those with a Unionist background. They do not disadvantage those who genuinely cherish the Irish language. Instead, they are about ensuring that the provisions both on Irish and on Ulster British and Ulster Scots are equitable and can truly be described as fair by all, and that no identity recognised by the Bill can be seen through any prism as having any “for one” advantage.
Unamended, the Bill will be rejected by the Unionist community. We will reject it because the Bill places the community’s Ulster British and Ulster Scots identity on a plinth below that on which Irish language is placed. That is not the basis for successful consensus legislation, but the foundation for division, mistrust and agitation.
We have sought to engage positively with the Minister of State to address these concerns. It is a matter of deep regret that despite warm words, he has indicated that he will endorse this inequality. That is regrettable, but reflective of the trajectory to which officials in the Northern Ireland Office remain wedded when faced with Unionist concerns.
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The Minister needs to understand one thing, however. On Second Reading, I made it clear that as we approach the 25th anniversary of the Belfast agreement, those who are making the birthday cake cannot start removing the key ingredients. Cross-community consent, the devolution settlement and parity of esteem all seem to be being slowly but surely eroded from the way in which Northern Ireland is approached by this Government, and, indeed, by the cheerleaders for the agreement. The Bill is a perfect example of that approach. At the same time, the Minister must grasp the fact that if the Government are not faithful to their commitments in “New Decade, New Approach”, this party will see NDNA as dead. He will understand all too well what that means for the restoration of devolved government. Our amendments can remedy that—they can prevent such a situation from ensuing—and I hope that the House will support amendments that can avert such an unsatisfactory outcome.
That leads me to amendment 20, tabled by my colleagues and me. The matters addressed in the Bill are devolved issues, and they ought to be dealt with if and when a new Executive are formed. What we have, however, is a remarkable overreach in terms of the powers bestowed on the Secretary of State in this regard. I believe that the Government cannot credibly oppose other amendments to the Bill on the basis that they deviate from the terms of New Decade, New Approach, while at the same time granting the Secretary of State unprecedented powers which denigrate the need for cross-community consent and cut across devolved competencies.
The Government may view these as dormant measures that will be activated only in extreme circumstances, but that is not the effect they will have. These powers will have a corrosive effect on relationships within the Executive, and will amount to an invitation to either the First or the Deputy First Minister not to seek agreement and instead to lobby the Government to intervene unilaterally. This sets an unhelpful precedent, and follows hard on the heels of the decision of previous Governments to override Ministers in areas such as abortion and the implementation of the protocol. The Government should not make themselves hostage to the manufactured grievance factory of Sinn Féin or any other parties.
We saw that this issue was weaponised for three years to block the restoration of an Executive in Northern Ireland. The hon. Members for Foyle (Colum Eastwood), for Belfast South (Claire Hanna) and for North Down (Stephen Farry) stood shoulder to shoulder with those who demanded no return of Stormont until this issue was addressed.