Belfast Agreement legislation only sacrosanct when nationalists have to be met: Centre for the Union

According to the Centre for the Union thinktank, while nationalists had no objections to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 being “unilaterally amended” to facilitate the “continued imposition of the union-subjugating protocol,” they are now vehemently opposed to having the Act updated to protect Northern Ireland’s place in the Union.

Centre for the Union’s NI director Jamie Bryson said the outcry demonstrates the “hypocrisy” of nationalists opposed to any further amendments.

“In January 2021 the Northern Ireland Act 1998 was unilaterally amended to expressly disapply cross community consent safeguards, in order to ensure the continued imposition of the union-subjugating Protocol upon the unionist community,” he said.

“Nationalism, and their surrogates in civic society, not only raised no objection, but they cheered for the ‘rigorous implementation’ of such suppression of protections for the unionist community.

“Cross-community consent for key decisions in the Assembly was a fundamental pillar of the 1998 Agreement, until of course those protections were relied upon by unionists rather than nationalists. At that point they became much less sacred, and in fact wholly disposable.”

At the weekend, NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the government could consider changes to Northern Ireland’s governance if some in the unionist community do not accept Rishi Sunak’s ‘Windsor Framework’ deal with the EU.

Mr Bryson added: “Apparently we have reverted back to the sacred principle that there can be no unilateral amendment of the 1998 Act.

“As ever with the so called ‘peace process’, what is a sacred pillar of the Agreement is viewed through the principle of nationalist interpretation. If it suits nationalism, it is a core immovable foundation. If it doesn’t; then it can be dispensed with.

“This shows the lop-sidedness of power sharing within the present framework. The Secretary of State has now made a clear commitment, as did the Prime Minister in Parliament on bringing forward legislation to protect the Acts of Union and constitutional guarantee. If they fail to follow through, being derailed by nationalist outrage, then the government will have made things even worse.”