It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), who spoke with his usual authority and attention to detail. I shall return to some of his points later.
I am deeply unhappy about new clause 3, which would provide the Home Secretary with an order-making power to change the lead responsibility for counter-terrorism by secondary legislation. In an intervention, I said it seemed odd that the Government wanted fresh primary legislation to extend pre-charge detention beyond 14 days—where urgent action would be needed if speed were of the essence—but here, on something that needs to be considered very carefully and at great length, they want to provide for an order-making power. I deeply regret that the Minister has completely ignored the Second Reading debate, when the Home Secretary said that she had not made up her mind. He failed to produce an amendment in Committee. Even though we finished our deliberations in Committee a day early, we had no opportunity to scrutinise this proposal. We can debate whether lead responsibility should be with the Met or the NCA, but it should be decided in fresh primary, not secondary, legislation.
As we heard, an unfortunate side effect of the proposal is that some in Northern Ireland have been able to suggest that it muddies the waters in relation to who is in charge of counter-terrorism operations and investigations. I asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland last week whether she would clarify that, and very helpfully she said:
“The primacy of the Chief Constable is retained to ensure consistency with the devolution of policing and justice.”—[Official Report, 6 March 2013; Vol. 559, c. 941.]
The Chief Constable has the lead in counter-terrorism, yet some have been able to suggest that that is confused by the Home Secretary’s proposal. That is a regrettable further side effect of the proposal. If the Government prevail today, I hope that those in another place will once again throw the measure out.
Like virtually everyone in the House—I think an exception might be made in a short while—I am deeply unhappy that the Government have had to table new schedule 1 to deal with the lack of a legislative motion in Northern Ireland. I generally accept the argument advanced by the hon. Member for East Antrim that we cannot simply blame the Ministers in this Government, but there has been a clear lack of urgency and clarity from them about who has the lead in these negotiations. Negotiations in the context of Northern Ireland are hard work, but I have not really seen any evidence that they have been taking place. It may be that that has been going on hidden from view, but if it has been going on, it ought to continue apace because it is essential to resolve this issue—the sooner, the better.
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There is a balance to be struck between autonomy and collaboration. That is particularly important in the Northern Ireland context. I respect the Patten reforms and all that has come from them, whether it be the Policing Board, the ombudsman, the position of the Minister and the position of the Assembly committee—all those are absolutely essential parts of the architecture of policing in Northern Ireland, which provide the autonomy it should have.
I am siding today with my colleagues from the Democratic Unionist party on the substantial issue—perhaps parting company, who knows, with my hon. Friend the Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan),who is yet to catch your eye, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have also been prepared to do the opposite. I championed 50:50 recruitment, for example, because it was essential to ensure that we delivered as a Government on the Patten reforms in their completeness. Particularly in respect of organised crime, we also must make provision for collaboration. When it comes to human trafficking, smuggling and the laundering of fuel, we have to operate initially on a UK-wide basis, but also, of course, with Ireland and indeed countries across Europe and throughout the world. Organised crime is global business; we must operate on that basis.
Having no legislative consent motion means that, when it comes to customs and immigration, for example, certain activities will still go on and we will not see the full-blown co-operation that we need. In Committee, I proposed the organised crime task force system in Northern Ireland as a model for the rest of the country, bringing together all the partners in the fight against organised crime: the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Serious Organised Crime Agency in its present form, private business, Government Departments and a whole array of people, including the Policing Board, all working together to combat organised crime. Just a glance at last year’s annual report will show the benefits of that approach.