Lords and MPs come together for Northern Ireland centenary lecture at Westminster

Hosted by the Lord Speaker at the House of Lords, the lecture on devolution in Northern Ireland was a more scaled back gathering due to the Covid pandemic, however, a number of MPs and peers both from both NI and Great Britain were in attendance.

The main feature of the evening was a talk by Professor Graham Walker from Queen’s University Belfast.

In conversation with Professor David Torrance, Prof Walker gave the audience an outline of the formation of Northern Ireland in 1921 – ‘Northern Ireland: the UK’s first example of devolution’ – and how the new political arrangements gave rise to “constitutional conundrums and political dilemmas”.

Prof Walker was born and educated in Glasgow but has taught at Queen’s since 1991.

The university’s professor of political history, he has published widely in the fields of both UK and Irish history and politics with a particular emphasis on the constitutional question in Northern Ireland and also in Scotland.

The Lords and MPs in attendance were joined by officials from the NIO and other government departments.

DUP MP for Strangford Jim Shannon attended the event he described as “impressive”.

Mr Shannon said: “I was quite impressed by what took place. I have always loved history so for me it was nice to hear this perspective on the formation of Northern Ireland.”

Mr Shannon added: “My question to Professor Walker was: when did the Conservative Party become less inclined towards the preservation of the Union – at what stage did that happen?’

“Professor Walker said he saw the first signs of that happening back in the 1960s and 70s.”

Baroness Kate Hoey, the Ulster-born former UK Sports Minister, was also in attendance.

“I really enjoyed,” she said.

“And it was good see quite a few senior Lords there who hadn’t really shown much interest in Northern Ireland previously.”

“Professor Graham Walker is excellent and it was a most interesting evening.”

Baroness Hoey added: “He was explaining how Northern Ireland was the first example of devolution in 1921, and asking if we had learned anything from that in respect of Scotland or Wales.”

A video of the event will be uploaded to the Lord Speaker’s website this week.

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