HC Deb 29 October 2003 vol 412 cc288-90
2. Bob Spink (Castle Point)

If he will make a statement on the political negotiations relating to elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [134144]

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy)

As I said in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer), there have been significant developments in the peace process. We announced last week that elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly will be held on Wednesday 26 November.

Bob Spink

But central to the negotiations and elections must be genuine decommissioning, truth, honesty and lack of deception. Will the Secretary of State therefore cut the spin and tell the House who was telling the truth—the Prime Minister or General de Chastelain?

Mr. Murphy

I dealt with those issues earlier and the Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree tackled them earlier this week. However, I repeat that the issues before the people of Northern Ireland are the elections and the future afterwards. I only wish the Conservative party understood that. The problem is that it does not. In the months and years that have gone by, the lack of a bipartisan policy on Northern Ireland has not helped but hindered the peace process.

Mr. Seamus Mallon (Newry and Armagh)

Does the Secretary of State agree that one of the major problems with the election is that the electorate know that they are not the final arbiters? They know full well that whatever they decide on 26 November and whatever the political parties decide subsequently, both outcomes have to receive the imprimatur of the Ulster Unionist council and the IRA army council. Will the Secretary of State assure the House that the two Governments will take steps to ensure that we are not in hock for ever to those two groups and that we will not have our futures decided by the men in balaclavas and the men in bowler hats?

Mr. Murphy

There is no answer to that really, is there? I know that my hon. Friend feels strongly about inclusivity in the discussions and the peace process, and I know that the Social Democratic and Labour party in particular, but other parties too, have been disappointed in the past few weeks. I am sure that he agrees that we must continue to tackle the issues that were central to the parties' discussions in those weeks and ensure that there is trust and confidence between the parties. I believe that the review of the agreement after the elections will provide the basis for inclusivity and the involvement of all parties. Of course, we await the outcome of the elections, but I want to re-emphasise the importance of the SDLP to the process, especially with regard to policing in Northern Ireland.

Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire)

At one point in the negotiations, the Prime Minister said that if we all knew what he knew, we would all sign up to the process. Subsequently, Downing street itself demoted the Prime Minister's knowledge to an informed guess. The crucial question is whether the Prime Minister had insider knowledge. If so, where did he get it? Will the Secretary of State assure us that in future all the pro-agreement parties such as the SDLP and the Alliance party will not be excluded from the negotiations? I firmly believe that their inclusion would have avoided the difficulties that we observed last week.

Mr. Murphy

I do not know what would have happened; no one does. However, we have to try and try again in Northern Ireland. If we fail on one occasion, we must pick up the pieces and start all over again. I disagree with the hon. Gentleman about what constitutes the central question, which is ensuring that the elections are held and that we move to period of stability in Northern Ireland in which we can resolve the difficulties and have an Executive up and running.

Mr. Kevin McNamara (Hull, North)

If it is a question of trust, is it not a question of trust in the judgment of General de Chastelain? Is it not a fact that one party refuses to accept the judgment of the independent arms decommissioning commissioner and that as long as it continues to do that, we shall never have the solution that we want and will always be in hock to the official Unionists?

Mr. Murphy

I think that everybody in the House believes that the integrity of General de Chastelain is unquestioned, and that what he reported at the press conference and in his own report to me and to the Justice Minister in Ireland were significant improvements in what has occurred. Clearly, they were not sufficient to produce the trust and confidence that was required between the parties. I hope that that trust and confidence will be restored when we return after the elections.

Mr. John Taylor (Solihull)

Can the Secretary of State confirm that the review provided for in the Belfast agreement will take place on the due date, namely 2 December?

Mr. Murphy

I cannot confirm the precise date, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that the review will be held before the year is out. It has to start before then. It may well be on 2 December, but we do not know what is going to happen on 26 November in terms of the outcome of the elections. The hon. Gentleman and I will agree, however, that the review must start after the elections and before the year is finished.