Peers’ fears over Brexit threat to NI peace deal
TWO former Secretaries of State for Wales and Northern Ireland have voiced serious concerns about the Brexit-related crisis that risks destabilising the Good Friday Agreement.
Northern Ireland has been largely peaceful since the peace deal was signed in 1998, ending decades of sectarian violence.
But the terms of the EU Withdrawal Agreement have caused severe anxiety within the Unionist community because for trading purposes they create a barrier between the province and the rest of the UK.
To avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, which would breach the terms of the 1998 agreement, a border has effectively been created in the Irish Sea.
To all intents and purposes, Northern Ireland has remained within the European Single Market and Customs Union while the rest of the UK is now in neither.
Some traders have experienced difficulty sending goods from Britain to Northern Ireland because of nontariff barriers brought in as a result of Brexit.
Lord (Peter) Hain was Secretary of State for both Wales and Northern Ireland between 2005 and 2007.
Currently a member of the Lords’ sub-committee which is examining the Northern Ireland Protocol, he said: “Northern Ireland was always going to be the Achilles’ heel of a hard Brexit.
“It meant there would have to be some kind of border between the EU and UK because there could no longer be a free flow of goods.
“Either the border would have to be physically located on the island of Ireland – something that was completely unacceptable to the EU because of the threat it posed to the Good Friday Agreement – or it would have to be in the Irish Sea.
“If the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had been prepared to accept a Brexit in which the whole of the UK remained in the Single Market and Customs Union, there would have been no problem. But they wouldn’t, so we are now in this difficult situation. From their point of view, the Unionists feel betrayed because Northern Ireland has been separated off from the rest of the UK – and that’s their greatest fear.
“We’re now coming up to the marching season and I hope there is no trouble.
“There is a potential solution which would involve modifications to the rules relating to the sale of agricultural produce, but at the moment the UK Government is showing greater interest in securing a quick trade deal with Australia, which could make the situation worse.”
Under a free trade agreement with Australia, the UK could be obliged to accept products that would not comply with EU standards, making it impossible for them to be sent to Northern Ireland and thus exacerbating the concerns of Unionists about its separation from the rest of the UK.
Lord Hain said: “I’m very worried that the UK Government is thinking more about potential trade deals with Australia and the United States than they are about Northern Ireland.”
Lord (Paul) Murphy, the former MP for Torfaen, was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland between 2002 and 2005, but played a major role previously as Minister of State for Northern Ireland when the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated.
He said: “I think the DUP has got itself into a very difficult situation after the deposition of Arlene Foster, the party leader and First Minister.
“Everyone will be focusing on the next Northern Ireland Assembly election, which is due to take place next year.
“The DUP has been losing support on the right to the Traditional Unionist Voice party of Jim Allister, a former MEP, and among more moderate Unionists ro the Ulster Unionists and the Alliance Party, which is the equivalent of the Liberal Democrats.
“At the last Assembly election, the DUP was only one seat ahead of Sinn Fein, so there’s a real possibility that Sinn Fein could become the biggest party. It’s difficult to predict what the consequences of that would be.
“I know after 30 years of dealing with the situation in Northern Ireland that there is only one way to move things forward, and that iis through negotiation and dialogue.
“At the moment I’m seeing a lot of threats of legal writs and newspaper articles by the likes of Lord Frost [the UK Government’s chief negotiator with the EU], but very little talking.
“As we approach the marching season, that’s what’s desperately needed.”