Clause 21 - Special committee of the Board
Police (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords]
3:45 pm
Mr David Wilshire (Spelthorne, Conservative)
That is so, but I was simply hoping that it would be possible to exempt the SDLP from this complaint. It would have been nice to focus all our ire on Sinn Fein-IRA.
There is a difficulty, Mr. Benton. My hon. Friend the Member for Solihull has had to go somewhere else, which leaves me speaking not only on my own behalf, but on behalf of my party. As the acting official spokesman of my party I have been given a brief headed ''Conservatives—points to make''. On the point about this change I have to read the following. Under the heading ''Government Concessions''—I like that bit—it states:
''In response to Conservative and Unionist pressure on this issue the Government brought forward a number of measures at Third Reading in the Lords designed to allay our concerns.''
I am afraid that, rather than it being the fault of Sinn Fein-IRA, it seems that we might have been responsible for this. That puts me in a rather uncomfortable position.