Years ago the Labour Party favoured pushing Northern Ireland out of the UK and into a united Ireland. Things are very different today. Labour stand by Northern Ireland’s right to remain within our country in accordance with the democratic wishes of its people (among whom support for Irish unity is not gaining ground steadily, as some claim.)
However, a little doubt about Labour’s commitment to the Union remains. In 2021 Keir Starmer said he wanted “to make the case for the United Kingdom.“ In Belfast shortly after the election in July he said he wanted to be “an honest broker”, which implies neutrality between Unionists and Irish Republicans.
On 6 November, Alistair Lexden tested Labour by asking in an oral question in the Lords about their attitude to an important Command Paper published in January by the last Government, entitled Safeguarding the Union. Its 76 pages set out a long list of measures, many of which had not been implemented by the time of the general election.
He said: “is it not the case that the Command Paper rests upon a principle that everyone should welcome and endorse—namely, that the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should be as strong and successful as possible?”
He went on to ask about the commitment in the document to scrap the legal duties on Ministers to promote an all-Ireland economy, which the Conservative Government had foolishly and improperly accepted during the Brexit negotiations. He said: “It is not important that this be done—and is it not imperative to emphasise that while cross-border co-operation and trade help everyone, they take place between two states, and that any form of joint sovereignty or joint authority over Northern Ireland has been firmly ruled out?”
To these points he got a rather confused reply from a Minister which seemed to indicate that no action was needed because the agreement reached with the European Union in 2013, known as the Windsor Framework, dealt with the issue. But it did not. Labour must do better if they are to gain the full trust of supporters of the Union.
