Tories’ deal with DUP could jeopardise the peace process
The prospect of a Tory-DUP deal has pushed two Welsh politicians who played leading roles in the peace process to sound the alarm bell, writes political editor David Williamson
THE quest for peace in Northern Ireland saw two Welsh politicians play key roles in trying to build trust between the divided communities and ensure that the horrors of the Troubles were locked in the past.
Peter Hain and Paul Murphy served as Secretaries of State for both Wales and Northern Ireland and were intimately involved in the slow process of convincing different parties to accept a future in which power would be shared.
But these two men, who are now in the House of Lords, have spoken out to express their deep concern at Theresa May’s bid to agree an alliance between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
The DUP was once seen as bastion of Protestant rejectionism under the leadership of preacher-turned-politicians Ian Paisley. In a move which stunned the world, Mr Paisley and Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness led their parties into a power-sharing government in Stormont.
Today Stormont is in crisis and the government has collapsed. A June 29 deadline has been set for a restoration of power-sharing.
But the challenge of resolving a range of disputes and controversies has now become even more complicated, with the Prime Minister wooing the DUP in a bid to ensure her political survival.
Leading Labour figures in the peace process have warned it is essential that the UK Government does not abandon its position of neutrality. There is concern that a Conservative-led government which depends on DUP support in Westminster will not be able to play the role of an honest broker.
Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell laid out the key conundrum: “How can our Government be the mediator when the DUP are going to be part of our Government?”
Former Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell raised similar worries.
He said: “The other parties in Northern Ireland will know that the unionists can pull the plug at any stage and hold the Government hostage. Failure to reach agreement will catapult Northern Ireland into a serious crisis and back on to our front pages, where it has been happily absent for 20 years.”
Ex-Neath MP Peter Hain was no less clear.
He said: “You cannot afford to be tied to any one faction, any one party in Northern Ireland... The only way I found I was trusted by Ian Paisley, the then leader of the DUP, and Martin McGuinness, who became his Deputy First Minister, and his colleague Gerry Adams, as well as the other party leaders, was that I wasn’t seen as in anybody’s pocket or dependent on anybody...
“If the Government, if the Prime Minister is dependent on the DUP, then all sort of backroom deals will be done which could impact on the Good Friday process, could put it in jeopardy and could destroy confidence among the other parties.”
Underscoring the potential damage to the peace process, he said: “[The] most serious consequences could be for the peace process. For example, the DUP may be more comfortable than any other party in Northern Ireland with the continuation of direct rule.
“That’s not their preferred option but they can live with it... [If] the DUP and the Tory Party actually decide their deal is more important than Stormont being restored, then that’s very serious indeed.”
A game-changing moment in the early days of the peace process came in 1990 when Conservative Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Brooke said the UK Government had “no selfish or strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland”.
Former Torfaen MP Paul Murphy told the BBC he did not think Mrs May’s Government could make this pledge.
He said: “No it can’t, and I think the problem now is that the peace process is likely to be sacrificed in order to save Theresa May’s skin. And that’s a terrible business, because we’ve gone through 20 years now of bringing peace and stability and prosperity to Northern Ireland.
“All that, in my view, is now being jeopardised by this deal.”
Sinn Fein’s seven MPs refuse to take their seats in Westminster, so – unless there is a radical change of policy – there is no prospect of them ever propping up a UK government. However, the party has put huge efforts into building up its presence in the Republic of Ireland’s parliament.
The possibility of Sinn Fein having ministers in the Dublin and Belfast governments was an unnerving one for many unionists to contemplate as it would be portrayed as a step towards de facto Irish unity.
This gives the DUP an extra incentive to forge an alliance with the Conservatives. Such a demonstration of the party’s clout in Westminster reminds people on both the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that Northern Ireland very much remains part of the UK.
Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams responded to the election, saying: “One thing we can say for certainty, there is going to be a referendum on Irish unity.”
The party’s leader in the North, Michelle O’Neill, said: “This new arrangement between the DUP and the Tories will be transitory and will end in tears. But it will be the people of the North who will have to pay the price for the DUP’s support for Brexit and for cuts.”
Pushing for the Irish Government to show greater leadership, she said: “Given the Tory Government’s increasingly partisan approach, it is more important than ever that the Taoiseach and the Irish Government stand up for the rights of all citizens in the north. The Irish Government needs to seize the initiative to secure designated special status for the North within the EU as part of the Brexit negotiations.”
Suzanne Breen of the Belfast Telegraph noted the reasons why neither Sinn Fein nor the DUP may back a return to devolved government.
She said: “While Sinn Fein’s more middle-class voters may be keen to get devolution up and running, the party knows that returning to Stormont and implementing Tory cuts will alienate its working-class supporters... Likewise, with its kingmaking role in Parliament and its bestever vote, Arlene Foster’s party will be in no mood to rush into a deal with Sinn Fein and sign off an Irish Language Act.
“The two big political power blocs have never been stronger – and the growing polarisation of our communities, and stalemate at Stormont, seems depressingly inescapable.”