Sinn Fein’s conduct during the emergency has been disgraceful but it has also been a strategic error

The Northern Ireland Executive has on balance performed well during the coronavirus emergency even with the efforts of Sinn Fein ministers to disrupt the consensus.
Michelle O’Neill on BBC The View earlier this month, where she openly criticised and undermined the health minister Robins SwannMichelle O’Neill on BBC The View earlier this month, where she openly criticised and undermined the health minister Robins Swann
Michelle O’Neill on BBC The View earlier this month, where she openly criticised and undermined the health minister Robins Swann

This has been achieved despite devolved government having only just returned and whilst we are in an unprecedented global crisis.

Ministers Swann, Mallon and First Minister Foster have especially shone in their roles showing leadership and forgoing opportunities to make political capital.

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Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Sinn Fein, who have, to me, shown a disgraceful lack of support for executive colleagues when political differences should have been put to one side for the greater good.

Philip Smith is an Ulster Unionist councillor on Ards and North Down council, and is a former MLAPhilip Smith is an Ulster Unionist councillor on Ards and North Down council, and is a former MLA
Philip Smith is an Ulster Unionist councillor on Ards and North Down council, and is a former MLA

The contradictory approach from Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill has diminished trust across the executive and while bashing the UK government and attacking unionist ministers may appeal to their hardcore base it has, unusually for Sinn Fein, been a strategic error.

It has also been a major change in Sinn Fein’s tactics. Up to now the political consensus in Northern Ireland on many issues has allowed Sinn Fein to ally with broader nationalism and the political centre ground to the exclusion of unionism.

This image of Michelle O’Neill usually acting in the lead and as spokesperson for a grouping that includes the SDLP, Alliance and Greens has sent the subliminal message that Sinn Fein share the centre ground, mainstream political view in Northern Ireland and that unionism is a minority on the political fringes.

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Whether it has been Brexit, Legacy, Irish language, Same Sex Marriage or abortion, Sinn Fein have cunningly aligned themselves with, and in many cases as, leaders of liberal opinion.

This has further benefited Sinn Fein as Alliance and to a lesser extent the Green Party have surged electorally in the past 18 months taking votes predominantly from unionist parties.

Northern Ireland’s constitutional future is dependent on which option, remaining in the UK or joining the Republic of Ireland, appeals most to the decisive 20% of the electorate that recently have formed the centre ground and may well be open to persuasion.

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey tracks support for the two constitutional positions over the years and there are definitive spikes in support for Irish unity when Stormont is going through prolonged dysfunctional periods.

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It is clear that growing the Union is dependent on appealing to the centre ground by making Stormont work.

Sinn Fein’s stand-alone response to Covid-19 has been a strategic error putting them outside the political consensus and abandoning their pretence of being in the centre ground.

They are now excluded from government in the Republic and risk further reducing their influence by being an opposition within the executive in Northern Ireland too.

For a party that a few weeks ago was talking up its potential for being in government across the island of Ireland this is surely a major step back and into their comfort zone of the past, suggesting that they only have one true conviction and that unfortunately is still ‘Brits Out’.

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Alternatively, unionism has been collegial and focused on the job in hand. But one swallow does not make a summer and unionism’s challenge is to maintain a centrist and statesmanlike approach as the coronavirus crisis begins to lift and normal government and politics return.

It will be a particular challenge for the DUP for whom this is new territory. Perhaps the chastening experience of RHI and the losses at the last Westminster election has brought home the reality of unionism’s position and the need to outreach and make the case for the Union outside its core vote.

As Northern Ireland eases out of the current lockdown an equally large challenge awaits as the economic stagnation that coronavirus brought will need to be quickly reversed.

The Office for Budget Responsibility expects real GDP to fall by 35% in the second quarter of this year. This is a global challenge, but Northern Ireland starts from a poor position in comparison to the other economies on these islands as, uniquely, we had yet to recover the lost growth from the 2007 recession and our economy was already slowing before the crisis.

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The executive needs every shoulder to the wheel to reverse the current slump and economic transformation must now become its primary goal.

The coronavirus emergency has highlighted some of the benefits of being part of a successful Union.

An extra one billion pounds of emergency funding provided by the Treasury and of course the unique institution that is the NHS are unmatchable, thanks to the Union’s broad shoulders.

Unionism’s challenge is to maintain its positive leadership within the executive and to work with the other parties to make Northern Ireland a success.

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Unionism must continue to focus on good government, making devolution work and re-building our economy. This is what will benefit us all, secure the Union, and help Northern Ireland move successfully into its second century.

• Philip Smith is an Ulster Unionist councillor on North Down and Ards council

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