Editorial: Belated but welcome unionist and Conservative ripostes to nationalism

There has been a very welcome unionist and Conservative pushback against institutional timidity in Whitehall towards Northern Ireland.

In 1990, Peter Brooke the then NI secretary, foolishly said that the UK had no selfish or strategic interest in the province. The remark has typically been seen as the ushering in of the so-called ‘peace process’. In fact it ushered in appeasement.

Latterly, the chronically weak current prime minister Keir Starmer has let there be doubt over whether a Labour government would campaign for NI to stay in the UK in the event of a border poll (he once implied that they would, but the one-time Labour NI spokesperson Louise Haigh in effect contradicted him, and there has been official ambiguity since).

Dismayingly, the Conservative spokesman for Northern Ireland Alex Burghart, suggested last week that a UK government could not campaign for the UK to stay together if the province was forced into such a plebiscite, but that the Tory party would campaign for the Union.

Now, instead of denying his words last week or trying to spin them, Mr Burghart has more or less admitted that he got it wrong. His considered view on the matter is set out in a letter in today’s News Letter. This is very refreshing. (To read the letter, click here)

Meanwhile, Arlene Foster has said that now is the time for London to retreat from Mr Brooke’s naive language of 1990. The UK has an obvious strategic defence interest in Northern Ireland, and must make that explicit – particularly amidst high-minded successive Irish governments that freeload off the UK when it comes to defence.

Meanwhile Ireland is still suing the UK over legacy. It will then be seen as an act of generosity when they drop their hypocritical case – a legal action to which Labour capitulated – as opposed to an act of hostility.

Ireland is getting ever more nationalist. the day. Unionists and Tories are belatedly responding to that.