Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020

Debate between Maria Miller and Richard Graham

Monday 8th June 2020 General Committees

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, to many of us here, it is matter of huge regret that Northern Ireland has proved unable, so far, to resolve these issues herself, in the usual democratic way, and that this Parliament is only getting involved, alas, because of the failure to do so?

[Mrs Miller]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, but we need to grasp this issue fully and not apologise for the fact that we have taken the time to legislate. We firmly want to see the legislation that we have passed put into law and to be clarified for those who live in Northern Ireland.

As the Minister knows, passing that law is not enough. I have some of the same concerns as the shadow Minister about Parliament, here in Westminster, passing a law that will then be implemented by an Administration that was not part of the process of drawing up the law. We need to have some assurances from the Minister that while he, of course, will not have day-to-day responsibility for the implementation of the law, that he will make sure that it is implemented, because he has international and legal obligations to do so. It is important that he spells that out in when he sums up.