Well anyone examining the rubbish from the British Midland Belfast to London flight yesterday morning may have found it amusing to find notes written by none other than our own First Minister, The Rt Hon. Peter Robinson MP MLA. Now how did this come about? Did the First Minister just throw his notes away? 

Well, not exactly. In the First Minister’s own words:

I put my scribbled notes on the centre seat while I talked to the man beside me and the steward came along and said, “Can I take that rubbish away?”

Hansard 04 Feb 2009

Well one wonders what would have been said if only he had not put his notes down.

And the subject… Yet another Northern Ireland Bill in Parliament – this one on creating the structures to allow for the devolution of policing and justice. That’s right, it won’t actually devolve the power but it will allow for the power to be devolved. And was this constitutionally important piece of legislation given the time it should have had on the floor of the House of Commons? Of course not. It seems that Her Majesty’ Government in the United Kingdom at Westminster is just as keen on ‘accelerated passage’ as the Northern Ireland Executive at Stormont.

The elected House of Commons got one day, or rather part of one day to debate the provisions of the Northern Ireland Bill. Next week, the House of Lords will get much more time – two days. It has had it’s first reading in the Upper House on the same day as most of the debate in the Commons.

Let’s see what happens next week.