Commons Passes Bill on Northern Ireland

Prime Minister Tony Blair’s emergency legislation to save the Northern Ireland peace process was passed by Britain’s House of Commons today but failed to address Protestant leaders’ concern about arms decommissioning. The Northern Ireland Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons after eight hours of heated debate. But it did not include amendments put forward by Ulster Unionists, who wanted guarantees that the Roman Catholic Sinn Fein would be excluded from a new government in Belfast, the provincial capital, if its Irish Republican Army allies failed to disarm. The bill, which is being rushed through Parliament within three days to allow a power-sharing executive to be set up by Sunday, passed with 343 votes in favor, 24 against and a large number of abstentions.