Northern Ireland epitomises Labour’s weakness

Gerry Adams led an Irish republican movement that killed and maimed thousands of victims, but he maintains to this day that he was never in the IRA. Of course, most people in Northern Ireland and beyond mock that account openly. They believe, in line with allegations from the security forces and some of Adams’ former colleagues, that he chaired the IRA Army Council and was a key player in forging its strategy for decades.

Labour’s failure to stand up for Britain has become a recurring theme under Keir Starmer’s leadership

The former Sinn Fein president, then, was at best an ideologue who justified terrorism throughout the Troubles. But it is far more likely that he helped direct the IRA’s brutal campaign of shootings and bombings. This is the man who could now gain compensation for his internment without trial in the 1970s, thanks to the Labour government’s decision to repeal parts of the Conservatives’ Legacy Act. 

Such an outcome would represent another capitulation to Irish republicanism and an insult to the IRA’s victims. But it is in line with what we should expect from this Labour administration. 

On that theme, last week, amid disorderly scenes in its parliament, the Republic of Ireland’s new government was formed in Dublin. Under the Fianna Fail / Fine Gael coalition, the role of prime minister, or Taoiseach, is rotated between the two parties. This time, that meant that Micheal Martin of FF returned to the top job, while the previous incumbent, Simon Harris, became foreign minister and deputy PM. 

In his new role, Mr Harris met the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, on Friday, in talks that were described as “warm and engaging”. This was a troubling description, given that the discussion supposedly centred on “ongoing work toward repealing and replacing the Legacy Act.” By rights, that should be a cause of tension between Britain and the Irish separatist state. 

In late 2023, Dublin sued the UK at the court of human rights in Strasbourg over its plans to halt inquiries, inquests and prosecutions into Troubles’ crimes, and that action is ongoing. The previous government often showed weakness in response to provocations from the Republic, particularly during the Brexit negotiations, but, in fairness, this display of Irish hypocrisy made it react with anger.

Tory ministers pointed out that Dublin has not only refused to investigate its own role in providing support and sanctuary for the IRA during the Troubles, but it had implemented a de facto amnesty for the perpetrators of violence. The former Irish justice minister, Michael McDowell, admitted in 2014 that the Republic’s police had long ago decided, “to use their resources to prevent current crime and current offences and not to go back over the IRA’s campaign of violence.”

Meanwhile, the peace process in Northern Ireland was nudged along by prisoner releases, royal pardons and “comfort letters” for on the run terrorists, which had a similar effect. The Legacy Act tried to acknowledge this reality and stop investigations from focussing exclusively on the small number of killings blamed on the security forces. Rather than support an honest attempt to solve this problem, Dublin effectively backed Sinn Fein’s campaign to blame the Troubles on Britain instead.    

In response, Labour is now repealing important elements of the act, though it is keeping a commission for reconciliation and information recovery. Even the Conservative government’s limited push back against anti-British posturing from the Republic has ended abruptly.

Labour’s failure to stand up for Britain has become a recurring theme under Keir Starmer’s leadership. Witness his seemingly doomed attempt to give away the Chagos Islands, or the decision to rename a Royal Navy submarine the HMS Achilles, in case the agreed title, the HMS Agincourt, offended the French (whose attitude to British sensibilities is considerably less delicate). 

The government is also determined to reingratiate itself with the EU, without seemingly asking for anything in return. While the previous administration signed the Northern Ireland protocol and Windsor Framework, at least it implemented them with reluctance and tried (unsuccessfully) to temper their effects. 

Some unionists believed that Starmer’s plan to “reset” the UK’s relationship with the EU could start to make the framework irrelevant. Instead, Labour has enthusiastically enforced the Irish Sea border and showed indifference to the issues it creates. The government seems to think that rigorous adherence to “existing agreements” will gain points with Brussels that can be cashed in at some unspecified point in the future.

Last week, it refused to pull the “Stormont brake” to prevent Northern Ireland diverging from national regulations on chemical packaging, despite new EU rules threatening to disrupt supplies to the province. The mechanism was agreed with Brussels and this was the first test of its effectiveness. But Starmer could not even give unionists a symbolic victory, hinting at a say over their own laws, by referring the matter to the Brexit joint committee.

This attitude — that being “reasonable” and “grown up” means conceding everything and showing constant weakness — underpins all Starmer’s foreign policy. Labour’s sympathies towards Ireland and its nationalists, though, are more ingrained. The prime minister and Benn previously distanced themselves from traditional Labourites who supported Northern Ireland’s annexation by the Republic and even cheered on the IRA, but every policy they’ve applied to the province so far has snubbed unionists and given nationalism what it wants.