Northern Ireland secretary statement on the passage on the Royal Commission for Devolution.

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On behalf of all of the government I would to state that we are disappointed that the Royal Commission for Devolution did not produce a report in a timely fashion. We wanted to make all decisions on matters related to devolution having consulted the document, in order to have all information we could. This sentiment was shared by our devolved partners, as they were also in the mindset of seeking to reform current arrangements in such a way that would benefit citizens. Therefore I would like to call on the commission to release any documents it has produced, if any.

Secondly I also wish to state the willingness of the Government to engage with our devolved counterparts to resolve any issues there may be with the current devolution arrangements. We know that in the devolved parliaments there is wide range of diverging opinions on what should be in the hands of Westminster and what shouldn’t. Therefore, we will always keep in mind what the citizens who live in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland said at the polls on the issue.

We are aware that elections just took place to elect those who will become our counterparts for these future negotiations. As such due to the delays of coalition forming and other necessary procedures the talks won’t start for a while. Me, and the other members of the Government, plan on updating the house and the people with the outcome of said negotiations in the future. Until then I would like to extend my best wishes to the representatives of the Devolved assemblies who have recently been elected.