Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Bill

I listened carefully to what the Secretary of State had to say and we are still waiting for him to give an indication of when the Sinn Fein conference should happen. He says that he will not answer ““what if”” questions, but his speech was riddled with remarks to the effect that if the DUP do not do this or that by certain dates, this is what will happen. He is clear about what will happen in certain circumstances, but he refuses to make any demands of Sinn Fein and its timetable for delivery on policing, except vague statements that it should happen sooner rather than later. He says nothing about what will happen if it does not and he has refused to answer questions from the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) and others about what happens if it is not held before the election. We see evasiveness, shiftiness and a refusal to answer direct questions, while all the time seeking to blame others. The reality is that this party is signed up to devolution on the right terms. The Secretary of State mentioned where dates came from. At the St. Andrews event and the agreement between the two Governments, the DUP did not sign up to anything other than the delivery by Sinn Fein-IRA of their commitments on policing. Since then, we have seen a reneging by Sinn Fein on those commitments. The Secretary of State tells us tonight that people will be disappointed by the lack of bubbling enthusiasm for the Bill. People in Northern Ireland are disappointed, but it is because the things that we were told would happen in the wake of St. Andrews have not happened. Sinn Fein has retreated on policing. The people of Northern Ireland will rightly expect us to stick to our manifesto commitments that we would not jump first and repeat the mistakes of the Ulster Unionist party, which led to its electoral annihilation. The people of Northern Ireland expect us to keep our word on that issue, and keep our word we will. Our amendment would provide a safeguard to ensure that the Secretary of State does not have to come back to the House at some future point with new emergency legislation. He sits there and pretends that once he decides that the process cannot be delivered because Sinn Fein has not signed up to the policing, everything will somehow disappear and politics in Northern Ireland will shut down. That is not credible and it will not happen.