William Bain
Main Page: William Bain (Labour - Glasgow North East)Department Debates - View all William Bain's debates with the Northern Ireland Office
(9 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mrs Villiers
I am meeting the leaders of the Northern Ireland parties on Friday to agree an implementation plan on the Stormont House agreement. It is highly likely that we will need at least some legislation both in Westminster and in the Assembly. We will talk to the Northern Ireland Executive about the balance between the two to ensure that we get these institutions up and running as soon as possible, because current systems are not giving the right outcomes for victims, and that needs to change.
Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)
5. What progress she has made on implementation of the Stormont House agreement; and if she will make a statement.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mrs Theresa Villiers)
The Government are committed to timely implementation of the Stormont House agreement and we are making progress—for example, on corporation tax devolution. We hope to agree an implementation plan for the agreement at our first formal review meeting with the parties on 30 January.
Mr Bain
I welcome the Stormont House agreement as further strengthening devolution across the United Kingdom and offering the Northern Ireland Executive nearly £2 billion in new finance and loans. What process will the Secretary of State propose to deal with the unresolved issues of parades, flags and cultural identity?
Mrs Villiers
The SHA sets out a clear pathway for reaching a resolution of those issues with the commission on flags, which was first proposed by Dr Richard Haass. It is right that we have a broader engagement with the public on the matters relating to identity. The SHA commits the Executive to producing options for a new system of parading that could be devolved, we hope, in future.