The British government is to propose a "significant" number of amendments to the Northern Ireland Bill, which will bring the Northern Ireland Assembly and other administrative bodies into existence under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. The proposals were outlined during the second reading debate of the Northern Ireland Bill in the House of Lords last night, as the government made clear once again its commitment that any party failing to observe its responsibilities would be excluded from ministerial office on a vote of no confidence.
Amendments will be proposed to reflect the concerns of the Northern Ireland parties on the early dissolution and prorogation of the Assembly, and enhanced powers for the proposed Equality Commission and Human Rights Commission for Northern Ireland will be considered.
"Substantial reworking" of the provisions on Strand Two and Three of the Belfast Agreement will give "greater prominence" in the Bill to the implementation of the North-South Ministerial Council and other cross-Border bodies.
The circumstances in which the selection of ministers to the Assembly under the d'Hondt procedure would be re-run - if a party was excluded for failing to maintain its commitment to peaceful and democratic means - will be amended pending consultation.
Lord Dubs, for the government, said he was confident the legislation was a "faithful reflection" of the Belfast Agreement and as such represented "the best hope we have been offered in many decades".
The former Northern Ireland Secretary, Lord Mayhew of Twysden, warned that if Sinn Fein did gain seats on the executive committee without movement on decommissioning "all their wants will have been met . . . leaving the IRA to pursue, armed if they wish, the principle in short term of a united Ireland".
The Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Holme of Cheltenham, told the government it could count on his party's support for the Bill and amendments proposed "in the spirit" of the Belfast Agreement.
The former Ulster Unionist Party leader, Lord Molyneaux of Killead, told peers he feared the government's amendments would "unstitch" the Belfast Agreement. Calling on the government to consider implementing a human rights commission for the whole of the UK, and not just in Northern Ireland, Lord Molyneaux urged ministers to avoid "slippage" in implementing the legislative bodies envisaged in the Belfast Agreement.
The former SDLP leader Lord Fitt, paying tribute to Mr Trimble's success in bringing the majority of the unionist family with him into the agreement, urged the IRA to "make some gesture" to reassure unionists that the Bill did not represent a "defeat".
The Bill received an unopposed second reading and will go to committee stage later this month.