Clause 2 - Membership of the Commission
Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Shadow Minister (Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland Affairs; Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)
I should like to push the Minister a little further on the issue. I broadly agree with the terms of the amendment tabled by the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve). I, too, am interested to know the genesis of the change. It seems not to have
been in the review or even in the joint declaration. Did the Government agree to it as part of a discussion with one of the other parties? That is something on which we have made our views known in the past. I am sure that there must be a good reason for the proposal, but we established in this morning's debate that there was no particular necessity for lay and non-lay members to be treated alike, so I should like to hear exactly what the Minister is getting at here. Is there a good reason for the change or, as we are talking about judges, is it just some ministerial frolic?