The Police (Northern Ireland) Bill will "lay the foundations for a new beginning to policing", the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, told MPs in the House of Commons yesterday at the beginning of the Bill's Second Reading debate.
While acknowledging the Bill would require "fine-tuning", Mr Mandelson said he believed the draft legislation paved the way for "the most complex changes in policing practice and culture ever attempted and one which, if successful, will provide as good a model for policing as can be found anywhere in the world."
He said it was important to ensure that the principles for policing originally laid down in the Belfast Agreement were fulfilled "and I firmly believe they will be". Mr Mandelson said it remained his preferred option that a legal description in the Bill incorporated the RUC's title while at the same time it introduced a new name, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which would be used for all working and operations purposes.
He also indicated that London was prepared to "strike a different balance" on the limitation of power of the Police Board. But he said he was concerned to protect the police from "vexatious, repetitive or capricious behaviour" by the Board.
The Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Andrew Mackay, said that, without amendments, Conservatives could not support the Second Reading of the Bill. Conservatives were "implacably opposed" to scrapping the RUC's royal title.
The safeguards included in the Bill to protect the operational independence of the chief constable did not go far enough, Mr Mackay said. It was completely unacceptable that the Bill did not provide for political or independent people convicted of scheduled offences, "or so-called terrorist offences", to be disqualified from sitting on the Police Board.
Mr Mackay indicated that if the Conservatives lost the vote on their amendment, they could not vote in favour of the Bill. He would then recommend that his colleagues abstain and seek to argue the case for amendments at Committee Stage and in the House of Lords.
The Ulster Unionist defence spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, said Patten had cast aside the basic tenet of the Belfast Agreement, which stated that as long as the people of Northern Ireland so determined Northern Ireland would remain part of the UK. Flags and insignia were part of that commonality, he said. in, the SDLP and Dublin "while paying lip service to the practicality of the Agreement" did not give proper recognition to the spirit of the Belfast Agreement.
The Labour MP, Mr Kevin McNamara, whose "reasoned amendment" declared that the Bill failed to reflect the determination of the Patten Commission, said he regarded the Bill as drafted as "a mean Bill".