When he expects decommissioning of illegally held arms and explosives in Northern Ireland to begin. [145475]

What undertakings by the Government remain to be fulfilled to enable verifiable total disarmament of terrorist weaponry. [145480]

Efforts are still continuing to seek a way forward to enable decommissioning to occur as soon as possible. For our part, the Government have met all our commitments, and continue to meet our commitments to take the steps necessary for full implementation of the agreement by June 2001.

For how much longer are Ministers going to fool themselves and, what is worse, the British people, over decommissioning? For how much longer are they going to allow illegal weapons and substances to exist and be held in the United Kingdom?

We have not given up—it seems to me that the right hon. Gentleman has perhaps given up—on the process. That is not what the people of Northern Ireland want. They want all the efforts made over recent days, months and years, by this and previous Administrations, to succeed. This is a difficult process. We hope that, with the encouragement of everyone with good will, we can take it to a satisfactory conclusion.

The Minister's optimism is understandable, but does not he agree that the hope may be false, especially when senior people in the paramilitary organisations are reported in the media as saying that there will be no decommissioning? The people of Northern Ireland are ware of that, after the recent attacks on Ebrington barracks and Claudy police station. Is it possible that we have been listening to our own spin, and that the republicans have rumbled us?

The recent attacks to which the hon. Gentleman refers have been attributed to the dissident republican movement, the Real IRA, as was yesterday's attack on Ebrington barracks. It is a matter not of believing spin but of looking at the hard reality and trying to find answers. No one said the task would be easy or without risks attached. That is the reality that we are dealing with. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will know the mood in his Constituency, which is for peace and for the removal of the past from Northern Ireland.

Does my right hon. Friend accept that those of us with a particular interest in Northern Ireland, and especially those who belong to the Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs, will greet with regret this morning's announcement by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State? However, will he make it clear to the parties in Northern Ireland that they should redouble their efforts to achieve faster progress on all sides, and not use the Secretary of State's resignation as an excuse for further delay?

I thank my hon. Friend for his kind comments about the sterling efforts and work of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. The Select Committee has played an important role in exposing and examining a range of issues, and in helping the process in which we are involved. We need to move forward on the basis that the Government have set out but, more importantly, on the basis set out in the Good Friday agreement. That is what the people of Northern Ireland hold to and what they want to have delivered. We are determined to achieve that.

In view of the statement of the independent decommissioning commission that it is possible to achieve decommissioning by June 2001, does my right hon. Friend share my anxiety that the constant harping of the Conservative party makes the process more difficult?

I am not sure that I share my hon. Friend's anxiety about that: I am tempted to use a different word to describe my response, but perhaps I should not use it today. I have said before, from this Dispatch Box, that the weakness in the Opposition's position is that they claim to be part of a bipartisan approach but constantly seek to question every dot and comma of what the Government seek to do. The Labour party in opposition gave the previous Conservative Government support when the going was tough, and Conservative Members should do the same now.

Will the Minister confirm that, during the negotiations that led to the Belfast agreement, the Government's position was that it was a twin-track process, and that decommissioning would be delivered when a political agreement was delivered? Two and half years on will he confirm that not a single ounce of Semtex or a single bullet has been delivered by Sinn Fein-IRA?

Of course I can confirm that. That is why my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State have redoubled their efforts over recent days to move the process forward. I recognise that the hon. and learned Gentleman wants what I want for Northern Ireland, and that is a peaceful settlement. He comes at the problem from a direction that is different from mine, but I know that he shares that objective. I think that he should give encouragement to the process and put some hope into it, because—and I repeat the point—that is what most people in his Constituency and in Northern Ireland want. They want peace, and no more violence.

The Minister will be aware that it is widely believed that political pressure is being put on the armed forces to move towards demilitarisation in Northern Ireland in return for perhaps at last some movement on decommissioning. Does he accept that this would be highly dangerous and that Ministers will be responsible if such changes in security lead to loss of life?

I suspect that the right hon. Gentleman has not learned any lessons from his past experience serving as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. No political pressure is put on our security advisers. We take their advice. It is a process of consultation; it is considering all of the options that are open to us. We have said time and again that we take the best security advice available before we move. The advice that we receive is first class and we have always responded to it.