Clause 11 - Approval of proposals relating to inquiries
Police (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Mr Paul Goodman (Wycombe, Conservative)
I was rather disappointed by the Minister's brief response. I hoped that she might advance a reason why the change would be beneficial for policing, and she did not. She simply said that the time had now come in which eight would be a sufficient number to determine the course of the kind of inquiry that might be made.
This is an important moment in the progress of the Bill and the Committee because the tripartite relationship between the Secretary of State, the board and the Chief Constable is at stake. It is pretty clear that the Minister does not agree with everything that the right hon. Member for Hartlepool, the former Secretary of State, said on Second Reading. However, I do not think that she has sufficiently considered the fact that the delicate tripartite balance established in the 2000 Act is being nudged recklessly to give far more power of initiation to the board. The theme running through the clauses is that any shifts of power proposed in the Bill are generally towards the board. I cannot recall in the course of these debates one shift towards the Chief Constable and the Secretary of State.
In certain circumstances, there could be Sinn Fein members on the board, and they could play a part in initiating inquiries that would be likely to have severe security consequences in Northern Ireland. As I understand it, that is the result of a deal done at Weston Park; not between all the parties involved in discussions with the Government on Northern Ireland matters, but purely between the nationalist—and indeed republican—side and the Government. I do not think that the right hon. Member for Upper Bann or the hon. Member for East Londonderry were there, or that their parties were consulted. It is entirely right that the nationalist parties should have their say on policing matters, but it seems extraordinary that the Minister will not accept our amendment and that she responds to it in this way, when the origins of the push for this part of the Bill comes from one side of the political community in Northern Ireland.
Amendment negatived.
Amendment made: No. 80, in
clause 11, page 8, line 34, leave out 'held' and insert 'called'.—[Jane Kennedy.]
Clause 11, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.