Editorial: Ditching minority protections for unionists would defy the spirit of the prime minister's essay

Days ago this column said that Chris Heaton-Harris and Steve Baker had been a disappointment as Northern Ireland Office ministers.

There was suspicion of Mr Heaton-Harris therefore when he said yesterday that there “are other routes forward” if unionists stay out of Stormont due to the Irish Sea border, which was upheld last week but its implementation softened.

Mr Heaton-Harris was perhaps referring only to arrangements such as when to call an election, rather than removing minority protections from Stormont as soon as unionists become a minority. Clarifying the remarks, the NIO this time had the wit to rule out joint authority if Stormont does not return.

Let us hope that the prime minister’s article in this newspaper last week reflected movement in London’s thinking with regard to NI. Rishi Sunak gently punctured the Irish nationalist fantasy of the all island economy, and instead emphasising the far greater importance of East-West trade.

The prime minister criticised the glorification of past terror. Such triumphalism has been happening while soldiers head to trial for Troubles killings that lacked pre-meditation while IRA leaders enjoy a de facto amnesty for decades of pre-meditated murders. Yet Sinn Fein has been increasingly overt in its celebrations of the Provisional IRA.

Even NIO ministers who are new to NI should be ever mindful that SF was allowed to collapse Stormont for three years and run a grievance campaign until it got an Irish Language Act, yet no UK minister criticised them, let alone hinted at reform of devolution.

If changes were made to minority protections as soon as unionists are the minority and when they are justifiably upset at the ongoing Irish Sea border, it would show the PM’s essay to have been dust. We cannot yet assume it was that.