Question
Further to the Written Statement by the Lord Rooker on 19 April (WS 145-47), what is the nature of the ““partnership, north and south”” which the joint statement of the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach of the Irish Republic at Armagh on 6 April envisaged would give expression to ““the legitimate aspiration of nationalists and republicans for a united Ireland””.
Answer
My right honourable friend the Prime Minister emphasised in his speech accompanying the joint statement of 6 April, which I subsequently laid before this House, that the Belfast agreement was based on,"““mutual respect for a difference of view””," in which both unionist and nationalist aspirations held equal legitimacy. The Government’s preference remains for the full implementation of that agreement. Should recalled Assembly members be unable to elect a First Minister and Deputy First Minister and form an executive by November 24, there would be a need to develop further British-Irish partnership arrangements. Such arrangements would ensure that the Belfast agreement’s provisions for practical co-operation on a north-south and east-west basis were actively developed for the benefit of all.