Letter: If unionism is to be taken seriously as a governing proposition, it must rediscover the confidence to advance clear alternatives
A letter from Colin Berry:
Doug Beattie's farewell statement, with its references to the UUP's "social conscience", "progressive and moderate outlook", and "respected conservative tradition", perfectly encapsulates the malaise afflicting contemporary unionism.
Coupled with the ill-fated ‘Union of People’ branding, it reveals a political movement increasingly reliant on hollow slogans and performative positioning rather than coherent thought and intellectual substance.
One cannot credibly claim philosophical depth while simultaneously assembling a patchwork of fashionable labels that, when examined together, possess little internal coherence.
The result is not a serious political tradition, but a word salad of vaguely agreeable sentiments designed more for focus groups and communications consultants than for the development of a governing philosophy.
Unionism remains in disarray because too much of it continues to operate within a pseudo-nationalist and regionalist framework. Rather than articulating a confident vision rooted in the broader political traditions of the United Kingdom, it retreats into a parochial ‘our wee country’ mentality, endlessly reacting to the latest policy proposals emerging from Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance.
Instead of setting the political agenda, Beattieism in particular seeks accommodation with a failing consensus that serves no meaningful strategic purpose for unionism.
Northern Ireland does not require endless justification for its existence, nor does it benefit from a political culture that unquestioningly embraces soft approaches to law and order, an increasingly bloated and expensive university sector, or a system of government that denies voters the effective mechanisms of scrutiny and accountability necessary to remove parties from office and facilitate political renewal.
If unionism is to be taken seriously as a governing proposition, it must rediscover the confidence to advance clear alternatives.
It should champion robust law and order policies, holding the justice minister to account when footage emerges of men openly carrying knives in public.
It should prioritise technical and vocational education over the continued expansion of an expensive and inequitable university subsidy regime. It should pursue ambitious planning reform and housebuilding programmes, using sovereign credit to accelerate development whilst retaining a proportion of future profits as a citizen dividend.
And it should unapologetically challenge the hostility displayed by Alliance and the SDLP towards domestic oil and gas production.
These are the foundations of a coherent political programme. They establish clear ideological distinctions, force political opponents onto the defensive, and offer voters a genuine governing alternative. More importantly, they stand in stark contrast to the prevailing Stormont consensus, which continues to recycle many of the assumptions and policy instincts embodied by Beattieism and the current governing parties.
Until unionism is prepared to move beyond the politics of moderation for moderation's sake and articulate a confident, intellectually rigorous vision of government, it will continue to drift – electorally, strategically and philosophically.
Colin Berry, Comber