Clause 100 - Power to alter judicial titles: Northern Ireland
Courts Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 26, in
clause 100, page 54, line 22, leave out 'Lord Chancellor' and insert 'Prime Minister'.
We have come to the sensitive subject of Northern Ireland. I am sorry that no one from the Northern Ireland parties was appointed to sit on the Committee, because the hon. Member for North Down (Lady
Hermon) has been helpful in a number of recent Committees considering legal Bills of which I have been a member. We think that the Prime Minister should make the orders about any alteration in judicial titles in relation to Northern Ireland. That is a small but important point. Again, it feels somewhat surreal debating whether the Lord Chancellor will do something, when the Government have said that, if they have their way, there will not be a Lord Chancellor in about three years—