§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how he proposes to make political progress in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. MasonThe Government wish to see established in Northern Ireland a new elected authority responsible for the administration of the great majority of those matters which most closely affect the lives of the people who live there but, as all the main parties in the House have agreed, that new authority must be one which both parts of the community in Northern Ireland will be prepared to support and sustain. I believe that within the basic principles of the framework for talks which I circulated to the leaders of the four largest political parties in Northern Ireland on 22nd November—[Vol. 941, cc. 1839–40]—it would be possible to devise a system of government which would be both workable and inherently fair, and in which the political representatives of both the majority and minority communities could participate I am ready at any time to discuss the setting up of an elected authority on this basis. I would hope that there will be a willingness on the part of the parties in Northern Ireland to make a positive response.