Editorial: Hilary Benn needs support in his refusal to set out criteria for a border poll

Not so long ago, Sinn Fein was the only party in the Republic that repeatedly called for an independent all-Ireland state.

Now it is a mainstream view among politicians in Dublin. After Brexit, Fine Gael became increasingly keen on the idea, with Simon Coveney saying in 2017 that he wanted to see it in his political lifetime. Leo Varadkar began to say similar. Recently he delighted republicans by telling a ‘New Ireland’ event that the next Irish government should actively prepare for an all island state.

It is comforting for unionists to say that this is all about outwitting Sinn Fein, but a more nationalistic form of politics seems to be emerging south of the border. The increasingly pro IRA chant Ooh ah up the Ra is part of that hardening of attitudes.

SF is capitalising on this. Yesterday Mary Lou McDonald travelled to the annual conference of the now UK party of government, Labour, where she told them that “referendums on Irish unity must be held by the end of this decade”. First, she said, London must “set out the threshold for the referendum as they see it – there can’t be any more dodging”.

Unionists should take note that Hilary Benn has not just ruled out a border poll, but he has rightly ruled out calls to establish a threshold. It is there in the Belfast Agreement, he says, as it is.

The call for clarification, naively given weight by Sir John Major (who called it a “credible demand”), is the latest republican project to put the UK in a straitjacket so it has to call a referendum.

There are things to be worried about from this new Labour government, not least its gushing approach towards an Irish state that harboured terrorists yet has had the nerve to sue the UK on legacy. But Mr Benn is right to resist the demand for border poll criteria, which is in fact a partisan and destabilising republican tactic, and unionists should help him make the case against it.