HC Deb 15 January 1981 vol 996 cc1125-6
1. Mr. Marlow

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will take action to integrate Northern Ireland more fully and more inextricably within the United Kingdom.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Humphrey Atkins)

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and will remain so as long as that is the wish of the majority of its citizens. So far as the government of the Province is concerned, it remains our intention to create arrangements that will better meet the needs of all its people.

Mr. Marlow

As we do not talk about Wales, Cornwall, Yorkshire or even Spelthorne remaining part of the United Kingdom so long as the people wish to remain part of the United Kingdom, would it not strengthen the Union if we were to drop this somewhat demeaning qualification about the constitutional position of Northern Ireland?

Mr. Atkins

I must ask my hon. Friend to remember two things. The first is the distinctive nature of Northern Ireland with its two communities with different traditions and different aspirations.

Mr. J. Enoch Powell

Oh!

Mr. Atkins

I think that the right hon. Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell) ought to remember that, too. The second is the Government's determination to create arrangements that are acceptable to both communities.

Mr. J. Enoch Powell

As Northern Ireland is, in the official formulation of successive Governments, an integral part of the United Kingdom, what meaning does the right hon. Gentleman attach to the word "integral" in that formulation?

Mr. Atkins

That it is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of which Her Majesty is the head, that its arrangements for governance are a matter for its people and this House, and that we have to keep in mind that government by consent is an essential part of our democracy. That is what Her Majesty's Government are seeking to do—to find arrangements that have the acceptance of both parts of the Northern Ireland community.

Rev. Ian Paisley

The right hon. Gentleman has said that there will be no change in the constitutional position without a majority of the people of Northern Ireland desiring it. Can he explain why in a letter to me the Prime Minister added "and the wish of Parliament"? If it is the wish of this Parliament to destroy that link, should not all the people of the United Kingdom, including those in Scotland, England and Wales, have a real say in that decision?

Mr. Atkins

As the hon. Gentleman knows, this Parliament is sovereign. The Government have said, and I repeat, that Northern Ireland will remain part of the United Kingdom as long as the majority of its inhabitants so wish, and that the future government arrangements of Northern Ireland are a matter for the people of Northern Ireland and this Parliament.