European convention is the key to unlock Stormont impasse: Nesbitt
A FORMER Stormont minister has spoken of his “anger and frustration” at the political situation in Northern Ireland, and accused unionist politicians of failing to learn the lessons of 50 years ago.
Writing in today’s Belfast Telegraph, Dermot Nesbitt (below), a former Ulster Unionist Environment Minister, urges politicians to consider the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as a means of overcoming the political impasse here. “The convention is part of international law. The idea behind such law is that certain fundamental rights have a higher status than ordinary laws and should not be subject to bargaining among the parties involved,” he writes.
“Among the rights in the convention is the right of a minority to maintain and develop its culture, preserve essential elements of identity, including language, and participate in public affairs.
“Balancing these rights, the convention makes clear that there must, in turn, be respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state and no engagement in
any activity or act contrary to these principles.
“Herein lies the problem: refusal by unionism to agree to certain rights while republicanism, by word and action, refuses to respect the state.”
Mr Nesbitt said he had spent the past two years trying to win support for this approach — but to no avail.
“I have approached privately the leaders of unionism, two key interviewers in the broadcast media and both Irish and UK Governments.
“Frankly, all efforts were a waste of time. This is a real and immediate challenge. We can but live in hope.”
Comment, Page 21 THE Unite trade union may stand candidates in the event of a general election in a bid to knock two DUP MPs out of Parliament, it has been reported.
It’s been claimed the union is planning to run ‘workers’ candidates’ against DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds in North Belfast and Gavin Robinson in East Belfast.
The Mail on Sunday newspaper also reported that the move was being planned in conjunction with Labour as it attempted to break the Commons relationship between the Tories and DUP. “In the election, every seat is going to count,” a Labour insider told columnist Dan Hodges. “And if they can knock out some of the DUP MPs it could tip Jeremy over the edge and into Downing Street.”
Labour does not permit official party candidates to stand at elections in Northern Ireland.
Unite officials here did not respond to attempts to contact them for comment last night.
Yesterday, Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner told the TUC Congress in Brighton that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was “hell-bent on ditching convention and rewriting the rules, even destroying his own party, in pursuit of his ideological drive to take us out of the European Union on October 31 without a deal”.