“The Burnham government should declare its intention to have a border poll in 2029/30 and start talks with all interested parties in Ireland, political and civic on the process for this.”
By Geoff Bell
Keir Starmer’s political death will pass easily in Ireland. His unionism was there early in his leadership when he declared he would campaign in Ireland against reunification in the event of a border poll. After that, apart from his Union Jack obsession, he tended to leave Irish policies to his secretaries of state, each of whom became more colonialist as they succeeded one another. His last one, Hilary Benn, made a fool of himself last November when he declared nobody in the North of Ireland wanted to discuss Irish unity when political parties, local councils and civic organisations were doing just that: Hilary was wearing his usual Orange spectacles.
More generally, as Patrick Cockburn writes in the 9 July London Review of Books, “Northern Ireland is the most unstable part of the UK, where local battles escalate into draining crises for the British state.” This is in a review of a recent book on Irish reunification: “a process, says Cockburn, “that is already underway”.
The Belfast-based Irish News front page on 8 July reported that Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Britain’s Ministry of Defence were to pay £4.6m in compensation for an attack by the loyalist paramilitaries the Ulster Volunteer Force. This occurred in November 1992, when UVF gunmen opened fire in an anti-Catholic sectarian attack in the Thierafurth pub in County Down, killing one and wounding at least ten others.
Later, various judicial and other legal inquiries ruled the PSNI had not held an effective inquiry into the attack, and that there had been collusion between police officers and the UVF. One of the suspects was a member of the British Army’s locally recruited Ulster Defence Regiment. Now, after years of delay, the PSNI and MoD admitted responsibility by agreeing to pay victims £4.6m. It is a narrative similar to hundreds of other sectarian deaths at the hands of British State/police/loyalist collusion; although only a few of these have led to the type of compensation paid in this case.
One of the most disgraceful cases was the 1997 kidnap and murder of Sean Brown, an official of an Irish sports club in County Derry. Nobody now denies that those involved again included loyalist paramilitaries, the PSNI and British state agents. The British government withheld evidence from the courts on its collusion. The Starmer government refused requests by Brown’s family to hold a public inquiry. They said that Benn, the minister responsible, was “making fools of us”.
Andy Burnham should right this cruel cover-up and establish a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown.
Proper investigations into such deaths were meant to be conducted through the legacy proposals agreed as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. Then the Tories’ legacy legislation looked to bury such inquiries. More transparency was promised by Starmer, but his legislation has been criticised by Amnesty International, Northern Ireland civil rights organisations, victims’ groups and many more. As the Irish News commented on 16 May, “The real British policy for dealing with people waiting for resolutions of Troubles killings involving soldiers or collusion remains: Deny, delay, die”.
Amendments to this legislation have been tabled by John McDonnell, the SDLP and others. These put victims first, promote state transparency and limit the Secretary of State’s ability to prohibit disclosure of British state crimes on national security grounds. They also remove clauses justifying internment without trial, as practised in the 1970s, a policy condemned at the time by human rights organisations worldwide.
Andy Burnham should accept all the Legacy amendments proposed by McDonnell, the SDLP and any others that put victims first.
All parties in the South endorsed reunification in their last election manifesto. Ireland’s new president, Catherine Connolly, was elected on a unity mandate.
Detailed unity proposals were debated by the Irish Parliament on 7 July, when the ruling government parties of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael voted down a Sinn Féin bill on these. However, their opposition, they insisted, was about the details, saying more work was needed. Fine Gael had already promised their own unity plan by November. Within Fianna Fáil. Jim O’Callaghan, a strong contender for next leader, has also spoken out for progress on the issue. All of this reflects the public mood.
Even some unionists in the North agree that the unity discussion cannot be avoided. The liberal unionist Alex Kane wrote recently that such participation “is, in fact, essential for survival in what is already an exceedingly difficult political/constitutional climate for unionism here”.
That climate was headlined in an Irish News article, written by historian Brian Feeney: “Suddenly, everyone is talking about Irish unity”.
Labour Movement for Irish Unity has recently launched a campaign “Ireland 2030 – Let the People Vote”. The targeting of 2030 for a border poll reflects calls from many civic, community and political organisations in Ireland.
Under the Good Friday Agreement, it is the prerogative of the British government to call such a poll.
The Burnham government should declare its intention to have a border poll in 2029/30 and start talks with all interested parties in Ireland, political and civic, on the process for this.
- Geoff Bell is an author and executive member of Labour Movement for Irish Unity. You can follow Labour Movement for Irish Unity on Facebook and Twitter/X.
- You can find out more about the Ireland 2030 – Let the People Vote campaign here.
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