MPs rush Bill through House in single sitting

Opening the Bill's second reading debate, Mr Paul Murphy, Northern Ireland Minister of State, said the measure marked the beginning…

Opening the Bill's second reading debate, Mr Paul Murphy, Northern Ireland Minister of State, said the measure marked the beginning of a new era for the people of Northern Ireland.

Mr Murphy said of the Bill, "it has a special significance for Northern Ireland. It will be a vehicle for change but also for reconciliation since members of the assembly will need to work together to the benefit of all the community."

In a powerful intervention, Mr Seamus Mallon, deputy leader of the SDLP, said the Good Friday agreement was "a mighty victory for the political process over violence, for pragmatism over ideologies that have outlasted their time and for the capacity of the human spirit to transcend problems that had seemed insurmountable."

Mr Mallon said that after the publication of the Heads of Agreement document, he had been "demonised" for accepting an assembly as part of a "partitionist settlement". He predicted that in time Sinn Fein would claim "enormous credit.....even for the vilified assembly." The legislation paving the way for the new Northern Ireland Assembly was backed in the Commons last night despite furious objections from some unionist MPs.

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UK Unionist Mr Robert McCartney said: "For a matter of such constitutional importance, the suggestion that it should be hustled through this House and ill-considered because of the time available will deepen the suspicions of the people of Northern Ireland that they are no longer first-class citizens of the United Kingdom."

Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley protested: "Even those who are opposed to this legislation should be allowed to discuss it with the same amount of time that is given to any other part of the UK.

But the SDLP's Mr Eddie McGrady said: "The negativity from the unionists tonight doesn't reflect the feeling of the people of Northern Ireland."

The legislation implements a key aspect of the agreement by allowing for elections to the new Assembly on June 25th, subject to a Yes vote in the referendum on May 22nd.

Earlier, MPs approved the timetable motion to speed the legislation through the Commons by 350 votes to 11. Opposition to the guillotine came from Tory former Cabinet minister Mr Douglas Hogg and unionist MPs.