Sir, – Alex Kane complains that we have not seen the new voices you would expect to see flow from a peace agreement (“Is the Belfast Agreement worth saving?”, Opinion & Analysis, December 28th).
The reason is simple. The National Executive Committee of the UK Labour Party has ruthlessly suppressed the development of anti-sectarian Labour Party politics in Northern Ireland, with the encouragement of other self-interested actors.
We are not allowed to stand Labour Party candidates in any NI election. As a result we cannot even vote for a Labour government at Westminster in a general election.
This is both undemocratic and discriminatory.
Also, by suppressing the potentially substantial cross-community Labour vote, it exacerbates the communal stalemate Alex Kane bemoans. – Yours, etc,
Dr BOYD BLACK,
Secretary,
Labour Party
in Northern Ireland,
Belfast.