Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 13 Rhagfyr 1973.
We were also told that when the Assembly had been formed there would be a conference. The White Paper said:
Following the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Government will invite the Government of the Republic of Ireland and the leaders of the elected representatives of Northern Ireland to a conference.
If the Government had said plainly "We have changed our minds; we do not now believe that we should invite the elected representatives of Northern Ireland opinion but only the Executive-designate and their parties to the conference", that would at least have been a clear-cut decision and we would have understood what they were about.