Editorial: Hilary ​Benn hits right note in support of Northern Ireland defence work - a complete contrast with Sinn Fein

​Hilary Benn firmly backed the £50 million defence investment in Northern Ireland yesterday, and he made some key points.

​The secretary of state for Northern Ireland said the money will go into skills in the province and help small and medium sized businesses access defence work.

Then, Mr Benn explained that it was part of a big increase in defence spending and he made this key observation: “That is the first responsibility of governance, to ensure the safety of nation.”

What a contrast, whether implied or unintended, with Sinn Fein. This is the party that must be in power at all times, regardless of how much it wants NI to seem like a failed state within the UK, thus appearing to make an all Ireland more attractive. This is the party that when it collapsed Stormont for three years made non negotiable demands for the return of devolution, that were of course met (above all the Irish language act it got in all but name, which has barely come to fruition and will be used to support its growing sectarian aggression over gaelic).

This is the party that certainly does not adhere to core “responsibilities of governance” – look how it pretended to show such an approach over the covid crisis, being holier-than-thou and an advocate of the most restrictive lockdowns, then led the IRA funeral mass breach in June of 2020 (and of course was exonerated by all the inquiries into that).

And now it is the party that adopts radical positions on global affairs, scolding Israel while being soft about China, Russia and Iran, thus alienating potential investors like Cantor Fitzgerald and now defence industries. Then, laughably, the only major Stormont party that was once inextricably linked to a terror group, the IRA, says it is against war. A bit late that.

This newspaper has been highly critical of the Labour government but we welcome its support for NI’s contribution to the UK defence.