The British government has issued a thinly-veiled warning to unionists that if the Stormont executive collapses again, the Labour administration in Westminster could work with the Republic’s Coalition to find a “new way forward” for governance of the North.
Hilary Benn, the UK’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said the collapse of devolved government in the North, which was suspended for two years until February this year over a DUP boycott of the institutions due to Brexit trade rules, “cannot happen again”.
In a speech to the British Irish Association conference in Oxford on Saturday morning, Mr Benn said devolved government in the North had been suspended for one-third of the time since 1998. He said this would not be accepted “anywhere else”.
Mr Benn said the British and Irish governments would work together as co-guarantors of the Belfast Agreement on a way forward for the North if a suspension reoccurs, a clear message to unionists to whom any involvement of the Republic in affairs north of the border would be problematic.
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His speech emphasised that the two governments would chart a way forward “working with all the parties”.
Mr Benn’s speech was largely positive in tone, as he lauded the improved relationship between the Republic and Britain since Labour won power in July, and the opportunity for a “genuine and lasting reset”. He also praised the powersharing government established this year between Sinn Féin and the DUP for the “positive start” it had made.
Mr Benn’s speech was preceded by an address from the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, who acknowledged that British-Irish relations had come through a “rough patch” that had exposed “new faultlines” post-Brexit.
He also lauded the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly, the North’s Deputy First Minister who was present at Oxford, for her “optimism and dynamism”.
Mr Martin called for “root and branch reform” of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), the body established by the UK to look into past crimes of the Troubles. In particular, he said the body’s “independence” would need to be addressed – its chief commissioner is Declan Morgan, the former lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
The Tánaiste also welcomed the improvement in relations between the Republic and Britain.
In separate remarks delivered to journalists on Friday, ahead of the conference and as Keir Starmer headed to Dublin for his first official visit to Ireland, Mr Martin said the UK cannot have an “a la carte” reset of the Brexit agreement.
The Tánaiste said that the EU wanted to see an improved EU-UK relationship but that the UK could not “cherry-pick”.
Mr Martin said Brexit had also shown how Anglo-Irish relationships could easily be torpedoed by political decisions. A succession of Irish leaders have described relations during the Conservative government as the worst in more than 50 years.
Starmer will be in Dublin on Saturday for all-day meetings with the taoiseach, Simon Harris, and a series of business leaders including representatives from Primark, Dawn Meats, the dairy company Ornua and Glen Dimplex, one of Ireland’s most successful exporters known for its oil heater manufacturers.
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Ireland was in favour of a veterinary deal to ease paperwork and checks on its huge exports of cheese, butter and other farm produce to Britain, said Martin. But he added the UK could not just present a list of demands to the EU.
While the EU wants a “good and warm relationship”, he said it was “not a la carte. Europe doesn’t want cherry-picking of any particular issues”, adding: “We would like to have an ease of trading relationships. But it has to be mutually beneficial.”
Starmer’s trip to Ireland marks a stepping up of his drive to reset relations with Ireland the country with which it has a trading relationship worth more than £85bn a year. It follows years of soured relations over the post-Brexit settlement, including the Irish border issue.
Starmer also met German and French leaders Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron in recent weeks.
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Before the meeting the prime minister said the two countries shared “the strongest of ties” but the relationship had not reached its full potential. “I want to change that,” he said. “We have a clear opportunity to go further and faster to make sure our partnership is fully delivering on behalf of the British and Irish people – driving growth and prosperity in both our countries.”
He said the two men, who will go to the Ireland v England football match in Dublin on Saturday, were in “lockstep” about the future.
Martin, speaking to reporters at the British-Irish Association conference in Oxford on Friday, said a review of the sanitary and phytosanitary rules mandated by the Brexit trade deal, which would reduce red tape and public health certification on exports and imports between the two countries, made “absolute sense” for British businesses.
“Everybody talks about being in favour of reducing red tape and bureaucracy around trade,” he added. “I think there are easy wins here. But it’s not for me to, sort of, be telling the British government what it should aim for, what it should go for. It has to assess what it can do within its political realities.” Additional reporting – The Guardian and Bloomberg
