Northern Ireland Assembly Members Bill [HL]

My Lords, I have listened carefully to the points made by noble Lords. The issue of dual mandates is clearly extremely important. Noble Lords sitting in this Committee have a great deal of experience in relation to double-jobbing. The noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, referred to the Kelly report. It may be helpful if I open my remarks by highlighting what Sir Christopher Kelly said when he addressed this issue in his report on MPs’ expenses and salaries. He noted that: ""The holding of multiple mandates, or ‘double jobbing’ as it is known in Northern Ireland, appears to be unusually ingrained in the political culture there"." Sir Christopher suggested two reasons for this. The first was, ""because of the legacy of ‘the troubles’, which discouraged many individuals from getting involved in politics, leaving it to a small minority to participate"." The second was because of, ""the recent history of political instability, which led the political parties to be fearful of giving up seats in Westminster in case the local devolution settlement collapsed"." I am sure that we would all concur with the points made by Sir Christopher. At paragraph 12.22, Sir Christopher Kelly concluded: ""The Committee’s view is that the practice of holding dual mandates in both the House of Commons and the devolved legislatures should be brought to an end as soon as possible. Ideally that would happen by the time of the scheduled elections to the three devolved legislatures in May 2011, or failing that by 2015 at the very latest"." It is the Government’s view that the best way forward is for the parties in Northern Ireland to come to an agreement about how to bring dual mandates to a close. The Assembly and the Executive Review Committee have put dual mandates on their forward work programme. The Government are not therefore persuaded that this Bill should be used to force the hand of the Northern Ireland parties. Consensus among the political parties in Northern Ireland has been a key feature of the process for many years. While it might seem attractive to push ahead with these amendments—I hear what noble Lords have said about the problems relating to double-jobbing, public sensitivities and the need for new talent, to which I shall return—I am not convinced that there is such a consensus among the parties and that this is the right approach. The noble Viscount, Lord Brookeborough, and the noble Lord, Lord Bew, raised the issue of new blood being prevented by double-jobbing. It is clear that engaging people in politics in Northern Ireland is vital, as the noble Lord also said. I am confident that all political parties are keen to bring forward new talented people. It is entirely plausible that this is one reason why all parties wish to bring dual mandates to an end. It is a question of timing. The noble Lords, Lord Bew and Lord Maginnis, and the noble Baroness raised the issue of heightened sensitivity to double-jobbing in the Assembly and the inability of Northern Ireland politicians to play a full part at Westminster—something about which we should all be concerned. I appreciate the concerns raised by noble Lords in relation to representation at Westminster.