Former MP for Belfast North
I also join in the congratulations to my right hon. Friend. I hope that the recent talks will introduce a new era in the relationship between North and South. Will the Secretary of State say something about the method of working of the expert working parties? Presumably they will be at Civil Service level. When are they to meet? Will my right hon. Friend confirm that Northern Ireland civil...
Would not the groups to which the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) referred have been entitled to attend the original Stormont talks? If they had attended these talks, would not the hon. Gentleman now be in a better position to argue as he does?
asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the working of the scheme to purchase the houses of owner-occupiers in troubled areas; and if he will now review the operation of the scheme to cover a wider range of cases of hardship.
Is the Minister aware that we welcome the fact that there has been an increase in activity in the scheme in the last two months, and that we also welcome the promise of a continuing review? Will he say a little more about the new basis of valuation in terms of valuation of property before it was vandalised rather than at current market values? Will he also say a little more about the position...
There is one matter which I should like to mention at the beginning of my speech, on which I think I shall carry all my friends from the Northern Ireland constituencies, and that is in the context of the statement by the Prime Minister today and of the mini-Budget which is expected from the Chancellor on Monday. It seems to me that the Executive will be judged, at least partly, by the...
The House has listened to an attack on the SDLP from the hon. Lady the Member for Mid-Ulster (Mrs. McAliskey). It was a bitter, uncompromising attack which I think will bring home to Members in this House the sort of problems and pressures which have been faced by all the parties taking part in the discussions. I do not intend to enter into controversy with the hon. Lady except to say that it...
The hon. Lady has made her point and the House will note the pressures, from the two extremes on either side, upon the parties in the middle who are trying to create these new institutions. I want to move to other matters and say that, for many of us who have lived through the last four or five years, this is a very important occasion. One recognises it as a very major step forward though,...
I am deeply touched by, and appreciative of, the concern of the hon. Gentleman. What has been put together is a package of compromises, and I do not think it serves any useful purpose to start unwrapping each layer and examining every little piece. I acknowledge that this is a set of compromise proposals. What I was saying before I was diverted by the hon. Gentleman was that there are...
