Northern Ireland Assembly Members Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am sorry that we cannot wholeheartedly support this set of amendments. We have not put our name to them because, as the noble Lord said, Amendments 1 and 2 would remove the ability of the Assembly to determine the Members’ salaries and allowances, and we feel that the Bill is adequate in that regard. Amendment 5 is very similar. The noble Lord does not want the Assembly to be able to deal with its own matters but we feel that it would be retrograde to have Westminster do that. Amendments 7 and 8 deal with Assembly Members’ pension arrangements. Like the noble Lord, we very much hope that the Assembly will set up an independent body and would support that. In fact, we have had an indication that that will be so and that it will determine Members’ salaries and allowances. It is up to that body, not us, to decide how those arrangements are made; we believe that it is inappropriate for Westminster to do this.