Opinion: Full council meeting will again consider whether or to adopt the Armed Forces Covenant
This is an opinion article by a DUP councillor who is Belfast City Council’s veterans’ champion:
Later this evening I will embark on what I hope will be my final step in getting Belfast City Council to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant.
This follows a number of previous committee and full council meetings with both a degree of controversy and misrepresentation of the covenant itself.
The Armed Forces Covenant is, in its simplest form, a promise by the nation that those who serve or have served will not be disadvantaged because of that service. It is not about special privileges or unfair advantage.
In 2019, my party leader, Gavin Robinson MP introduced a Private Members Bill in Westminster which sought to provide a legal duty to have regard to the covenant for various organisations.
As a party, the DUP secured its statutory underpinning on a UK-wide basis through the Armed Forces Act. We also fought to ensure that Northern Ireland was fully included within the Armed Forces Act, and despite attempts to block its implementation, that principle is enshrined in law.
This legal duty does not extend to local councils, five out of 11 of which have already signed up to the covenant. In terms of the practical support for veterans that council can provide through the covenant, it is limited comparatively to health trusts or the Housing Executive, however that does not make it less important.
I want to provide visibility for veterans in the city of Belfast, to give them respect and recognise the sacrifices they have made on our behalf. This is of crucial importance.
Sinn Fein and the SDLP, who pride themselves in being the champions of equality cannot have it both ways. They cannot claim that Belfast is a city of equals, when they oppose efforts to put our veterans on a level playing field with everyone else.
For unionists, we must see this as a clear example of how low voter turnout has an impact when it comes to important votes in Belfast City Council or elsewhere.
There will be opportunities at the ballot box in the future to increase representation for unionists in City Hall. Those must not be wasted.
• Alderman James Lawlor is Councillor for Ormiston DEA Belfast City Council Veterans & Armed Forces Champion