Editorial: There needs to be cultural change in the government's approach to Northern Ireland
In this newspaper we publish an essay that expresses the view that unionists should now return to Stormont. It has been written by Roderick Crawford a fellow at the respected and influential Westminster think tank, Policy Exchange (see link below). Mr Crawford outlines the argument that the UK government simply will not reopen the Windsor Framework, and – imperfect though that document is – unionists will now have greater leverage back in the assembly. He points out that the DUP’s seven tests did not call for the disapplication of all EU law. We will publish essays from different perspectives in the coming weeks and readers will make up their own mind on the best way forward.
There is, however, something that can be said now about the UK government. It is the latest in a succession of Conservative and Unionist administrations that have failed to get to grips with the essence of something that was happening in Northern Ireland even before Brexit. As in Scotland, nationalists are using the apparatus of the UK state in order to dismantle it. This is a particular problem in Northern Ireland, where unionists either become part of a consensual process for such (given that they are a minority in a mandatory coalition executive) of they heavily wield the petition of concern, in which case they are called blockers and face reform of Stormont to undermine unionist influence.
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Hide AdLondon is beginning to wake up to the problem in Scotland, and to use its power to challenge Scottish nationalists. The same needs to happen here, regardless of whether Stormont returns. A profound change in the culture of the Northern Ireland Office is needed. And the government has to stop being polite. With Sinn Fein travelling to America to get US officials again to scold the UK over NI such talk needs to be explicitly and publicly slapped down.