DUP have failed unionism by backing the Conservatives... and we could all pay for it
UNFORTUNATELY, the instability and clamour in Westminster over the withdrawal agreement, has been matched in Northern Ireland by an understandable and growing unease.
Paradoxically, this has been matched by a quiet (and in some cases not so quiet) satisfaction in Dublin and amongst other EU capitals, that the United Kingdom has been constrained to a deal that delivers little beyond the control of migration. It is telling that while many in the business community are welcoming some aspects of the deal, as the detail becomes absorbed, as many questions as answers are emerging.
This concern, around issues to do with the need for specific labelling, checks at ports, arbitration on issues to do with regulation recognition, the role of the ECJ (and its future enshrinement within NI legislation), the addition of an added level of unaccountable bureaucracy in the form of the ‘Special Committee’, coupled with the uncertainty of political acceptance, underpins the uncertainty that confronts our people.
The uncertainty has been fostered by the total absence of strategic vision or leadership in London, but also back here amongst our Westminster representatives. I was particularly struck, looking back to last year when Nigel Dodds stated: ”If the EU wants to insist on border check points on the island of Ireland that is a matter for them. There will be no internal UK border in the Irish Sea. In 1985 we were powerless to stop the Anglo Irish Agreement, in 1998 we were powerless to block the Belfast Agreement, but today our future lies in our own hands.” The withdrawal agreement shows just little influence that our socalled leaders of ‘unionism’ really had.
It is also telling that — again last December — the DUP said that they had achieved six clear commitments from their government partners, including ‘There will be no customs or trade border down the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.’ It is regrettable that this was not only a false boast but by agreeing to the December backstop, Mrs Foster made yesterday’s draft Withdrawal Agreement inevitable. Yet again, whether intentional or not, the DUP’s posturing and failure of even the basics of leadership, has created a crisis for us all.
As a party we have been talking extensively with business and community groups and reaching out to our partners across the UK and in Europe. Rather than making a knee jerk outright objection to the proposals we have now taken the time to seek answers to the questions that are being raised. Unfortunately, like many of the MPs who questioned the Prime Minister yesterday, throughout the 585 pages of the draft Withdrawal Agreement, we do not see the advantages being promoted by the Taoiseach, Tanaiste, Northern Ireland Leader of Sinn Fein or the other parties around the table in Dublin. I have no doubt that if carried through, this is a good deal for Dublin — and it is — but that should not cloud the reality that far from being a ‘win-win’, it has the real potential to be a ‘lose-lose’ for all of us.