UNIVERSITY TOP-UP FEES IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND CONDUCT OF LABOUR HONOURABLE MEMBERS

That this House notes with astonishment that the honourable Members for Erith & Thamesmead, Kingswood, Leeds North West, Elmet, Gower, Peterborough, Leyton & Wanstead, Putney, Islington North, Newcastle upon Tyne Central, Linlithgow, Llanelli, Holborn & St Pancras, Crewe & Nantwich, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent Central, Newport West, Walthamstow, Norwich North, Birmingham Sparkbrook & Small Heath, Selby, Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney, Newcastle upon Tyne North, Chorley, Blackpool North & Fleetwood, Barnsley Central, Hampstead & Highgate, Worsley, Manchester Central, Wrexham, Calder Valley, Hayes and Harlington, Wolverhampton South West, Medway, Cardiff North, Ynys Mon, Pendle, Birmingham Ladywood, Nottingham South, Bolsover, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Hemsworth, Liverpool West Derby and Batley and Spen voted, on 8th March, to impose university top-up fees on Northern Ireland, although they voted, on 27th January 2004, against the decision to impose university top-up fees on England and Wales; calls on them to explain this inconsistency in their behaviour; believes that this decision demonstrates the democratic deficit in the way that Northern Ireland is governed; and calls on the Government to bring forward measures to make Direct Rule more accountable to the people of Northern Ireland.