Editorial: Unionists are again letting it seem that there is common cause on legacy with other parties including Sinn Fein

"In … 2021, the DUP joined with parties right across the political spectrum [at Stormont] to reject the prospect of immunity for perpetrators as enshrined in the Command Paper published by the then Secretary of State [for NI]”.

Thus the DUP leader has again emphasised the cross-party opposition to the government's legacy plans. This joint opposition is repeatedly used against London. Just last week Leo Varadkar scolded the UK (as timid London lets him do, never saying a word back) on legacy, citing "one of the few things that all five major parties [in NI] are united on"

So let’s rehearse what this column has mentioned many times before. Legacy investigations long ago turned against UK state forces who patiently prevented civil war here, with no help from a Republic that would not extradite terrorists from the organisation that killed by far the most people, the IRA. Yet an Irish PM has the nerve to criticise the UK on the past, and can cite unionists to do so. He and others imply that a large coalition from DUP to UUP to Alliance to crossbench peers such as Baroness O'Loan to SDLP and Sinn Fein have common cause on legacy.

Is it really only this newspaper and a handful of others, such as the Malone House group volunteers, who are troubled at this notion that unionists and republicans have common cause? We realise there is no such common cause but others will conclude there is when the DUP is telling the PM how they joined “parties right across the political spectrum" to reject his legacy bill. London's attempt to shut down legacy isn’t ideal. But given that there seems to be no political appetite to make legacy uncomfortable for the IRA, then it is a lot better than an enlarged legacy process that will turn against UK state forces.