Clause 26 - General functions of Commissioner
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
10:15 am
Lady Lady Hermon (North Down, UUP)
I am grateful to the Minister and accept his generous explanation and apology. I remind him and other members of the Committee that clause 1 of the Belfast agreement, signed on Good Friday in 1998, stated—it was voted for in the referendum in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland—that Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom unless and until the people of Northern Ireland vote otherwise. I remind him that criminal law is not a devolved issue; responsibility for criminal law and for victims and witnesses remains firmly here at Westminster, not in the Northern Ireland Office.