Unionists score victory on Armed Forces Covenant: Nationalist bid to block it in Belfast defeated

Unionists and nationalists have been warring over the set of pledges providing help for veterans struggling to adjust to civilian life for more than two years – and now it looks like unionists have finally clinched a victory.

Last month the council’s Standards and Business Committee voted to sign up to the covenant, only for Sinn Fein to launch a blocking move. The nationalist party lodged a bid to rescind the March decision, which appeared before the same committee this evening.

Sinn Fein wanted the issue sent to either a committee where nationalists hold the balance of power, or the full council for a debate and further vote. Unionists would be almost certain to lose in both of those options.

But a combination of DUP, TUV and Alliance votes saw nationalist parties defeated, to the vocal ire of SDLP group leader Seamas de Faoite.

Mr de Faoite last month branded the initial vote “undemocratic”; this evening, he complained the covenant was being “railroaded” through the council.

The Standards and Business Committee was set up to assign issues to the correct committees for debate, but it also has special powers to skip a full council vote and adopt ideas straight into policy. The DUP, backed by the TUV and Alliance, last month used those powers to push the covenant through; this evening, by 10 votes to nine, they fought off Sinn Fein’s attempt to undo that decision.

A series of votes with the same outcome were held without debate, though Mr de Faoite was angered when he didn’t get a chance to have his say.

“There is a need to have this discussed by full council,” he started, adding “I don’t think this committee should be used to railroad anything through when it doesn’t reflect the full nature of the council” before being interrupted by meeting chair, Anthony Flynn of the Greens.

As the SDLP leader demanded “Why am I being cut off, am I not allowed to have my opinion on this?”, Mr Flynn reminded him: “This is not the committee for debate on motions.”

Added the Green councillor: “Members are fully entitled to make those issues and concerns and raise them at other committees, let’s try to keep this show on the road.

“[The Standards and Business Committee] is just for deciding what happens to motions, it’s not for having a discussion on the implications of motions.”

Mr de Faoite attempted to raise a further objection, but Mr Flynn decided to plough ahead to a final vote that unionists and Alliance won.

The covenant was brought to the committee by DUP councillor James Lawlor, Belfast’s armed forces champion, who has been pushing the council to sign up to it through a series of committees and debates since 2024.

It has often been an uphill struggle, the move repeatedly falling by a single vote, as a nationalist bloc on the full council narrowly outnumbers the unionist plus Alliance side, while the Greens abstain citing anti-war principles. Nationalists have been adamant that another full council vote would have that result again.