Alex Kane: Why unionism is stuck with its age-old problem

Unionism isn’t a club. There are no compulsory, binding rules of membership.

What unionists have in common is a belief the United Kingdom is preferable to a united Ireland. What they don’t have in common is a set view on how best unionism makes the case for the Union and how far it should or can go to accommodate the multiplicity of strands and nuances across the hundreds of thousands who describe themselves as unionist.

If Scotland voted for independence soon what sort of impact would that have on our perception of the United Kingdom? Would we still be keen to have a close relationship with an England dominated by a new, nastier, more insular form of English nationalism? How would some unionists vote in a border poll if the choice were between all of Ireland in the EU and an independent Great Britain (because the Protocol keeps NI partly within the EU) of which we were not full and equal members?

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I don’t know the answers. I raise the questions only as a reminder of the sort of challenges unionism will continue to face; yet with scant evidence it is prepared to acknowledge, let alone address those challenges.

Peter Robinson and Mike Nesbitt talk to the media fter the first meeing of the Unionist Forum in 2013Peter Robinson and Mike Nesbitt talk to the media fter the first meeing of the Unionist Forum in 2013
Peter Robinson and Mike Nesbitt talk to the media fter the first meeing of the Unionist Forum in 2013

In his column on Saturday Ben Lowry made an important observation: ‘The old problem with liberal unionism was that it seemed barely to exist. The new problem is that it does emerge but keeps falling into confusion on points of principle.’

(Ben Lowry’s column can be read here: ‘This is a time for firm, not liberal, unionism’)

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/ben-lowry-time-firm-not-liberal-unionism-northern-ireland-3065936

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I’m sure Ben won’t mind if I rejig that observation: The old and continuing problem with unionism is that it keeps falling into confusion on points of principle. In January 2013 Peter Robinson and Mike Nesbitt co-hosted the Unionist Forum, described by Robinson as the ‘most representative group in the unionist community to meet in half a century.’

The forum committed itself to a broad-based agenda of research and discussion, including better ways of communication and cooperation. Yet within six months the forum had collapsed in acrimony and confusion over priorities and points of principle. When I spoke to some of the participants afterwards all I heard was the same old mantras about lack of trust, lack of interest and ‘some people were determined to wreck this from day one’.

I’m old enough to remember the collapse of the UUUC after the Sunningdale Assembly was brought down in May 1974. I remember the so-called ‘common response’ of unionism never emerging after the huge anti-Anglo Irish Agreement in Belfast in November 1985. The loyalist rallies at the end of 2019 against Boris Johnson’s border in the Irish Sea proposals delivered nothing. And right now most of political unionism/loyalism is engaged in a bad-tempered war of words over the DUP’s ‘disastrous handling’ of their relationship with the Conservatives and ERG.

Let me toss a few words and phrases at you. Moderate. Traditional. Small-u. Hardline. Staunch. Flexible. Liberal. Not-an-inch. Secular. Compromiser. Lundy. Latte drinking. Snowflake. Dinosaur. Loyalist. “Make no mistake, all ambivalent or small u unionists are to all intents and purposes nationalists.” DUP. UUP. TUV. PUP. UPRG. UVF. UDA. Loyal Orders. UKUP. UCUNF. Vanguard. Independent unionist. No. Never. Betrayal.

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I could easily add another half-dozen paragraphs of the words, phrases, initials, descriptions and organisations that make/made-up the unionist/pro-Union (and even those are not quite the same thing) community. Even when I thought I’d exhausted my list I’m pretty sure the readers of this column could add hundreds more to it. And that’s because unionism is – always has been and always will be – an enormous and enormously diverse community.

All of which helps to explain another observation of Ben’s: ‘There are, as far as I know, no unionists who support all concessions cited above. But all the concessions have at least one unionist supporter or at least a degree of acquiescence.’ As I noted above, unionism isn’t a club. And nor is it a single party or movement.

There are no collective rules, no overarching strategy and no easily decipherable route map. Which means unionism cannot be contained or controlled. There will always be differences of opinion: differences which usually lead to further divisions and electoral losses. And each new actual or perceived ‘betrayal’ by a UK government always leads to unionists turning on each other rather than asking why they are routinely ‘betrayed’ or expected to acquiesce on issues which are likely to undermine their best interests.

About a decade ago I suggested in a column that unionism needed to prepare for 2021 by coming together to agree a strategy and roadmap to take them through until the mid-2030s. In 2012, at an Ulster Covenant centenary dinner, Peter Robinson proposed the creation of a Council for the Union to prepare for 2021 and beyond (he proposed an updated version in his first News Letter column on October 23). A few months ago the PUP recommended a convention.

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On Saturday, Ben wrote about the need for ‘a party, group or movement focused on guarding the Union from often oblique assaults’. Separately, January will see the launch of We Make NI, a platform for those who are ‘proud of NI and want to see a shared, positive and inclusive future. This will be truly transformational ...’. The words shared and inclusive will spook some elements of unionism.

A century on an NI unionism is still trying to define and promote itself. And that, I’m afraid, is the root challenge it will continue to face.

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