“A labour government will solve the problems in the North of Ireland.”
Labour and the North
11 November 2024
SoS Hilary Benn meeting Michelle O'Neill
and Emma Little-Pengelly.
A standard cry from Sinn Féin supporters in the North has always been: “wait until Labour comes to power!” After all, the programme of the British Labour Party over generations has, at least formally, been in support of an Irish democracy. Surely the close collaboration with Unionism would come to an end?
Sir Kier Starmer did not wait for the British general election to upend these fancies. He said he would campaign for Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK if such a referendum was held in his lifetime. He then went further to say that for a Labour government a referendum on Irish unification is “not even on the horizon”
Nothing has been said about these positions. For Sinn Féin, the pretence that we are on our way to a border poll and a united Ireland must be kept alive in defiance of reality. A more immediate issue arising around law and governance in the North is the Legacy Act.
The Legacy Act, brought in by the Tories, introduced a ban on inquests and civil actions related to deaths during the Troubles. Essentially state forces would have immunity and legal action and inquests would come to an end. Investigative bodies were replaced by an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information (ICRIR) with a purely narrative function.
Labour, in the King’s speech, has promised to repeal the Act. However, the new Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, has indicated that there is no timeline in place for its removal and Labour intends to retain the ICRIR. He has indicated that the government would honour a 2004 commitment to investigate the killing of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane, yet overall justice for survivors of state violence will be pushed into the distant future.
Even more alarming is the Labour approach to the local economy. The myth that Labour would provide shedloads of money for the long-term running of the Casement Park project was quickly dispelled.
The last Tory government had insisted that Stormont generate more local revenue rather than total reliance on the Westminster grant. A bookkeeping manoeuvre avoided any real action, but the principle has now been established. Of course, Stormont could hike business taxes, but no-one believes that will happen. Instead, the local politicians pin their hopes on a recognition by Westminster that the Barnett formula establishing the Westminster subvention did not meet objective local needs.
An immediate crisis has been avoided by the settlement of public sector pay, but the settlement came out of a 3-year budget and will not allow for further increases. The UK budget provided an additional £1.5 billion for Stormont, but most of this will be soaked up by the administration itself.
The recent Tory budget and the current Labour one both rest on further privatisation. This a formally devolved area, but the local parties have been totally compliant in this process. The headline story from Benn has been the release of funding for city and growth deals in Mid-South West and Coast & Glens, an example of the pump priming model of economic growth writ small.
Labour is pinning a lot on improving relations with Europe and has been welcomed by the Dublin government, but this process will lead nowhere if Labour refuses to sign up to the Common Market and the European Court.
Immediately on his appointment the new Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, announced “no blank cheque” for the six counties economy. The privatisation agenda, a major part of the British agenda, will be fully applied in the North, even more vulnerable than in England. There will be no real opposition from Sinn Féin.
The contradictions will rest within their working-class base. Already shaken by a series of scandals, how much longer will they be satisfied with the “British cuts” mantra of the leadership?
Further contradictions will arise in the trade union movement. They have offered fervent support to political stability at Stormont in the expectation that workers’ rights will be established through a benign programme from the Assembly. In real life the unions are protesting because the agreed health workers pay settlement has not been actioned, meaning the gap between local and British pay rates is growing. What will the union leaders say as privatisation and limits on public sector pay become fully established?