Joint Irish-British rule over Northern Ireland 'would spell major unrest and trouble' says DUP peer in reaction to Lord Alderdice comments about Province's future

Lord Alderdice, now a Lib Dem peer, said the drift is now towards some kind of joint Irish-British administration of the Province.

He first made the comments in an online article published on his own website – www.lordalderdice.com – on Sunday.

He then expanded on what he had written on BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster show on Wednesday.

Unionists had already raised objections to his line of thinking earlier in the week, but now Lord Dodds has weighed into the debate to condemn his remarks as “grossly irresponsible”.

• ALDERDICE SETS OUT STALL •

Lord Alderdice’s Sunday article had said: "In the absence of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the inevitable trajectory is towards de facto joint authority.

"Recent political developments and the results of this election suggest that the pace of that trajectory has quickened markedly...

"If the institutions of Strand 1 and Strand 2 (the Assembly and the North-South Executive bodies) continue to be suspended, then the only part of the Good Friday Agreement that remains operational is Strand 3 (the British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference).

"This means increased London-Dublin cooperation, and that does not require any legislative change.”

Lord Alderdice (who led Alliance from 1987 to 1998) went on to tell the BBC on Wednesday: “It's clear there is now no longer a dominant unionist majority. Up ‘til the recent elections one could've said that.

"I remember a debate in the House of Lords in December 2021. Sadly Lord Trimble is no longer with us, but in that debate he reproved me for saying unionists would do well to consider a joint First Minister because a time would come, very shortly, when there would be a republican First Minister and they'd be wishing they had a joint First Minister.

"He said: ‘Oh you're speculating about the future’. But of course the future has come.

"The unionist majority is gone, gone for good – it's not going to be coming back.

"There is major political change coming down the track, and with Brexit and Rishi Sunak coming in as Prime Minister his key agenda was to try to reset the relationship with the EU [and] US. That was the priority. That's what the Windsor Framework and Protocol was really about.

"He's not going to rubbish the Windsor Framework simply because there isn't agreement on the unionist side.”

He also said that in recent decades he has observed that “most ordinary people [in England] almost already assume Northern Ireland is not really part of the UK in the same way as they are”.

• ‘SOWING SEEDS OF INSTABILITY’ •

Lord Dodds responded by saying: “The Belfast Agreement, which John Alderdice proclaims to espouse, does not allow for join authority in any circumstances.

“As ministers have made clear at the despatch box, both in the Commons and in the Lords, at the end of the day it’s the UK government that’s responsible for the internal government of NI, ultimately.

"It’s sad to see John Alderdice and others – current members of the Alliance Party leadership – antagonise unionism so blatantly.

“For anyone to suggest joint authority is really sowing the seeds of great disharmony and instability.

“If it were ever to come about of course, it’d cause trouble which nobody wants to see.”

Does he think there would be actual disorder on the streets?

"I fear that if there was a move to rip up the current settlement, the Belfast Agreement, as it was amended by St Andrews, if that was to be ripped up in favour of a republican / nationalist solution in the form of joint soverignty, I think that’d provoke major unrest and trouble, and for people to even suggest it is grossly irresponsible...

“If he was watching circumstances closely he’d understand the vote for nationalists and republicans is at the same level, roughly, as what it was in 1998.

"The problem political unionism has is far more division in its ranks, too much apathy among the voter base, and too many who follow this Alliance line of trying to be all things to all men and women.”

The figures in the recent election show the SDLP and Sinn Fein combined got about 40% of first preference votes, against 38% for the trio of main unionist ones: UUP, DUP, and TUV.

Back in the 1997 council elections it was 38% for the SDLP and Sinn Fein, and 46% for the DUP, UUP, and PUP.

And in the 1998 Assembly election, the SDLP and Sinn Fein got 40% while the DUP, UUP, and PUP got 42%.

• ‘STRONG CASE FOR THE UNION’ •

Fellow DUP peer Lord Weir also hit back at Lord Alderdice.

He told the News Letter: “There are strong advantages to the Union across the entire community, and I think that from that point of view unionists need to prepare themselves in terms of the arguments, but I think there’s a strong case for the Union.

"And indeed, even on the basis that it does seem those committed to a United Ireland the numbers haven’t really shifted all that much in recent years.”

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He said that those criticising the DUP for staying out of Stormont are effectively telling unionists: “Restore Stormont immediately, and without getting the issues of the Ptrotocol sorted out, or alternatively something much worse is coming over the horizon.”

Lord Weir added: “And again, while unionism always has to be cognizant of what the threats and opportunities are in the future, I don’t think that kind of failed attempt to push unionists down a particular line is going to be very productive either.”

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