A Year of Keir, An Irish Perspective…

“With one year of office under its belt, the British Labour Party has categorically failed to deliver on its stated promise of change.”

Joe Dwyer reviews Starmer’s first year in office from an Irish perspective.

In the late 1960s, it was often said that what separated the then ‘Prime Minister of Northern Ireland’, Captain Terence O’Neill, from his predecessors was that; while Craigavon and Brookeborough had walked over Catholics with hob-nail boots, O’Neill walked over them with carpet slippers! Effectively, whatever about the niceties and the optics, little had materially changed. Particularly for those beneath the heel of power.

As a metaphor, it could readily be applied to the present British Labour Party Government. Because, while the Tories trampled over the sensitivities and complexities of British-Irish relations with all the grace of a reversing dump truck, the British Labour Party has hardly navigated its first year in office without exhibiting its own unique style of inelegance.

Indeed, it could be said normal service has been resumed. The people of the North of Ireland remain entirely disregarded when it comes to Whitehall’s decision-making.

Initially, one could be excused for having a small measure of optimism. Labour Party politicians have always been better suited to the subtleties and nuance of British-Irish relations. Indeed, twenty-five years on, the Good Friday Agreement remains a rhetorical touchstone for the achievements of the last Labour Government.

In the course of the 2024 Westminster Election, Labour had struck a positive, albeit measured, tone. Beneath the one-word title of ‘Change’, Labour’s manifesto promised just that: change. The document spoke of upholding “both the letter and the spirit of the [Good Friday] Agreement,” and committed to working with Dublin to “strengthen the relationship between our two countries.” Miles away from a Conservative Party that had driven a horse and cart through the scaffolding of the peace process.

Going beyond such warm platitudes, however, Labour also proffered a tangible commitment to “repeal and replace” the shameful Legacy Act, and to return to “the principles of the Stormont House Agreement… seeking support from all communities in Northern Ireland.”

The new British Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, started off on a good foot. On September 11, he announced the launch of an independent statutory public inquiry into the 1989 murder of the solicitor Pat Finucane. A longstanding commitment of the British Labour Party in opposition.

However, it must be borne in mind that this was not the gift of Mr Benn. It was a point that the British establishment had been doggedly dragged towards. In 2019, the Supreme Court in London had declared that none of the previous investigations into Mr Finucane’s murder adequately met the standards required under Article II of the European Convention on Human Rights. In July 2024, Justice Horner of the Court of Appeal issued a timetable which stipulated that the British government had to enact an Article II compliant investigation.

Taken in the round, the British Labour Party has fundamentally failed to address the legacy of the past. Indeed, the same month that saw the new British Government announce a public inquiry into the case of Pat Finucane, also saw it reject a statutory public inquiry into the 1997 murder of the GAA official Seán Brown. Despite the explicit direction of two High Court judges, Mr Justice Patrick Kinney and Mr Justice Michael Humphrey.

Additionally, it also ruled out public inquiries into the 1992 murders of Kevin and John McKearney and Charles and Teresa Fox, despite Judge Richard Greene’s stated opinion that public inquiries would be the only viable route forward for an Article II compliant investigation.

Once settled in office, the Labour Party began to unpick its manifesto commitment to establish an agreed way forward on the past. ‘Repeal and replace,’ suddenly became ‘repeal (some parts) and (don’t) replace (others)’.

Instead of dismantling the Legacy Act root-and-branch, Hilary Benn became a chief advocate for the Act’s controversial investigative body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (or ICRIR). A body that does not contain the necessary powers of investigation and does not carry the trust or confidence of victims, survivors or their families. Despite the Secretary of State’s protestations to the contrary, the ICRIR provides no credible alternative to public inquiries, and does not meet the standards or safeguards of the Stormont House Agreement.

Rather than working with victims and survivors, Labour in Government has actively worked against them. Most recently, in May 2025, the British Government sought leave to appeal Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan’s reaffirmation of the previous court ruling that the British Government must hold a public inquiry into Sean Brown’s killing.

Equally, Labour has sought to whitewash the illegal actions of past British Governments. In 2020, the British Supreme Court ruled that Interim Custody Orders, issued during the introduction of internment in 1971-72, were not directly approved or authorised by the British Secretary of State and were therefore illegal. Rather than accept that internment constituted a shameful abuse of state power and a widespread denial of human rights, Labour has committed itself to circumventing any compensation to the victims of such wrongful imprisonment.

In parallel to this retrogressive approach to the past, Labour has also sought to follow the Tory practice of penny pinching. On September 13, Hillary Benn confirmed that Casement Park would not be built in time to host UEFA Euro 2028. He would spend the subsequent nine months prevaricating and refusing to clarify what funding would be allocated to the project.

That same day, last thing on a Friday, the Secretary of State cynically announced a pause on the pledged funding for City and Growth Deals. An action that was later reversed, following intense lobbying by locally elected political representatives.

Nonetheless, the high-handed fiscal diktats continued. In February 2025, the Secretary of State delivered an ill-judged and arrogant speech during an unannounced visit to Ulster University. Like a visiting Governor General, the Leeds South MP stated that lack of funding from Whitehall was not hindering the delivery of public service transformation. Instead, the responsibility lay with locally elected representatives who had failed to take ‘difficult choices.’ As ever, ‘difficult choices’ is Whitehall-speak for punitive taxes, additional charges, and increased costs for struggling workers and families.

Only four months later, following intense negotiations with the Finance Minister, John O’Dowd, the British Government conceded additional funding for public services in the North. While also confirming a substantial financial package to get Casement Park built. Although a late step in the right direction, such announcements still fall far short in terms of what is needed.

Most reckless of all the British Labour Party has failed to engage constructively in relation to the North’s constitutional future. Speaking at a fringe meeting at the 2024 Labour Party conference, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Fleur Anderson, made the careless remark that a referendum on Irish unity was “not a priority” for her government. Irrespective of the priorities of the British Labour Party, British Government Ministers must embrace the principles of rigorous impartiality and respect for the provisions in the Good Friday Agreement for constitutional change.

Hillary Benn’s opinion that constitutional change remains “a long way off,” is equally imprudent. It is beyond time for the British Secretary of State to set definitive criteria for the calling of a unity referendum, particularly at this time when the gap between those who seek unity and those who want to maintain the union is rapidly narrowing. The imperative to plan and prepare for change is overwhelming and the British Labour Party must begin a process of structured dialogue with Dublin about preparation and logistics for potential referendum.

With one year of office under its belt, the British Labour Party has categorically failed to deliver on its stated promise of change.

This should come as little surprise however to Irish republicans. As any student of Irish history should know; whatever the political character of a British Government, real change for the Irish people cannot be realised on British terms.

After all, if it wasn’t for the British Government there would be no ‘Irish Question’ to begin with… and perhaps that’s the answer?

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• Labour Outlook is running a series of daily articles, reviewing one year of the Starmer Government across different key areas. 
• Joe Dwyer is a political organiser for the Sinn Féin London Office. You can follow him on Twitter/X.