Part of Orders of the Day — Disqualifications Bill – in the House of Commons at 11:15 am on 25 January 2000.
I am obliged to you, Mr. Martin. As you will have noted, I am desperately trying to conform to your ruling.
The crux of the point that I have been making is that section 36(5) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the repeal of which I am minded to support, was part of rushed legislation. A genuine misunderstanding has arisen, because if you are somewhat tired, Mr. Martin, the Under-Secretary must also be tired. He has been sitting on the Treasury Bench for about 15 or 16 hours—