Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
10:30 am
Lembit Öpik (Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Affairs; Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)
I also welcome you to the Chair of our Committee, Sir Nicholas, on an exciting day for your party. May I be so bold as to say that perhaps you will prove once again that you are the finest leader that the Conservatives have never had? Of course, there may be time for that to happen in future.
I also thank the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) for his comments. As hon. Members know my brother passed away two weeks ago, and we buried him on Friday. The past few weeks have been very emotional. I know that I am not unique in experiencing such a tragedy; other hon. Members have suffered similar tragic experiences in their families. Nevertheless, I am extremely grateful to hon. Members, particularly Northern Ireland politicians, for their generosity of spirit. I hope that I can live up to the professional expectations of this Committee, notwithstanding my loss.
On the programme motion, let me say that the hon. Member for Gedling in his capacity as Whip has proved once again that we are well served by him in the context of organising Northern Ireland business. I would go so far as to say that in my eight and a half years’ experience in Northern Ireland matters, the programming of business has never been so effectively handled. That is because when he is drawing up programming proposals, he listens, negotiates and makes sure that all views from all parts of the House are taken into account. I thank him for that; it takes away one of the sources of friction that used to detain us.
Having praised the hon. Gentleman’s political agility—he is like a nimble gazelle, seeking accord—I turn briefly to put a question to the Minister about the programming. I have to ask him why we are here at all this morning. We are all aware that the legislation is a result of a promise made by the Government to Sinn Fein at Weston Park in 2001. [Interruption.] Indeed, that might be Gerry Adams on the phone right now, passing instructions to Government Members. However, there were reports over the weekend that even Sinn Fein is now criticising the Bill. If the one party that wanted the legislation is now saying that it does not like it, I ask this question of the Minister: would it not be better for everyone if he simply withdrew the Bill and thereby saved us a great deal of time?