Northern Ireland Assembly Members Bill [HL]

My Lords, the three amendments in this group make good the Conservative pledge to do away with the practice in Northern Ireland known as double-jobbing. Amendment 3, on which Amendment 4 is consequential, refers to salaries and expenses. Amendment 9 refers to Members’ pensions. The issue of Members of the Assembly in Belfast also being Members of Parliament is a peculiarly Northern Irish problem and one which all parties, I believe, including all those that represent Northern Irish constituencies in Westminster, have said they wish to end. The noble Lord, Lord Smith of Clifton, has committed his party’s support for a measure which would get rid of double-jobbing, and indeed the noble Lord has put his name to the opposition amendments. At Second Reading, the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, reaffirmed the Government’s intention to do something about it, although she was unable to specify what or how. These amendments will afford noble Lords the opportunity to debate the matter and, we hope, act decisively. The amendments are not designed to prevent a person being elected to more than one legislature but they would in practice act as a very strong deterrent. They would prevent an Assembly Member drawing a salary, expenses, or pension for their membership of the Stormont Assembly if, at the same time, they were a Member of the House of Commons or the European Parliament. The latter institution is included to reflect the drafting of Section 47 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which provides for a proportionate reduction in salary if there is a double mandate. The amendments would not prevent somebody standing for—and, if the electorate were to endorse them, winning—a seat in two legislatures, but I think that noble Lords will recognise that we have tried to express strong disapproval of such a course of action by withholding any remuneration in the Assembly. The amendments stick to the narrow scope of this Bill but give realisation to the aspirations of both my party and our partners in the Ulster Unionist Party to end dual mandates as soon as possible. As all parties are signed up in theory to the idea that double-jobbing must come to an end, we cannot see that these amendments will be controversial. The Kelly report made it a key recommendation for improving standards in politics in Northern Ireland, and the Government have committed themselves to implementing that report. The Democratic Unionist Party has agreed that the practice should end, although it would prefer to stretch out the deadline for five more years. We do not see why we should wait that long. We do not feel that constituents are served well by representatives who must be at both Stormont and Westminster but of course cannot be in two places at once. At Second Reading, the Minister suggested that, ""to be an elected representative in Westminster or the Northern Ireland Assembly is a full-time job in itself".—[Official Report, 1/12/09; col. 731.]" On a very basic, practical level, it is impossible to justify being a Member of both. To get from one to the other requires a trip to, from and through two airports and a flight in between; it is not a matter of hopping in the car or train for a short journey. The somewhat inflexible parliamentary and Assembly business schedules and the need for a physical presence in both places mean that it may not be possible to conduct as much business by telephone or electronically as in other occupations. My personal experience covering no less than three portfolios here tells me that, with popping backwards and forwards and so on, I certainly could not do any more in Stormont. It is not a runner to do two jobs in two places; one cannot do them properly. On a level where public perceptions are involved, meanwhile, it cannot have passed anyone’s notice—we touched on this area in debating the last group of amendments—that a special type of fury is reserved in the public mind for politicians who are seen to be "on the make". I am sure that most, if not all, of the 16 MPs who are also MLAs work extremely hard for their constituents. However, the past year has shown us that simply carrying on as before is not good enough. The Kelly report is designed to bring a shift in the way that politics is conducted, by the good apples as well as the bad. One recommendation of Sir Christopher’s report is to end double-jobbing. The issue is almost entirely exclusive to Northern Ireland; we have in front of us a Bill exclusively about the Northern Ireland Assembly. I hope that the Government grasp the opportunity that we have given them and support these amendments. As is customary in Grand Committee, we will not put this matter to a Division. However, it is clear that the appetite for the change that we are proposing exists, and we will certainly return to the topic on Report if the noble Baroness the Leader of the House is unable to give me what I am asking for.