Unionists may have been pushed to side with Cameron on crucial votes
In the fog of confusion and uncertainty now engulfing the Labour Party, the public would be forgiven for forgetting what happened last week.
The defeat of the government over the purdah rules surrounding the forthcoming European referendum, coming so early on in the parliament, was a blow to the prime minister’s authority and a reminder of just how slim his 12 seat majority is.
With more votes likely to be equally difficult, government whips will be looking for all potential opportunities to notionally boost the ranks of his supporters.
Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader and appointment of John McDonnell as shadow chancellor, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) might now be prepared to bolster the Conservative Party in parliament in a way that it has not yet done.
When a hung parliament was predicted in the run up to the General Election, the DUP made clear its readiness to work with either Conservatives or Labour.
“We could work with either of those parties,” declared the party’s leader, Peter Robinson, although the DUP’s five-point plan for a hung parliament included a call for the bedroom tax to be scrapped altogether, a position that placed them firmly in line with Labour policy.
With an all-important vote on military intervention in Syria likely to take place after conference season, the votes of DUP MPs in such a finely balanced parliament could be crucial.
In 2013 the party’s MP’s sided with Labour in voting against taking action against the Assad government, arguing that they had not been convinced that it would have led to material improvements in the situation on the ground.
If David Cameron is to gain the assurances that he is seeking that a further vote could be won, winning over the DUP will be vital to his plans.
In the aftermath of Labour’s leadership contest and shadow cabinet reshuffle the DUP might just have been persuaded to provide more vocal support for the government, making Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to further air strikes that bit more difficult.
If Gerry Adams’ swift message of congratulations for Corbyn following his election victory, declaring him to be a ‘good friend of Ireland’ had not been bad enough, then having appointed as shadow chancellor someone who, in 2003, called for members of the IRA to be ‘honoured’ for taking part in their ‘armed struggle’ will have put relations with the DUP into the deep freeze.
And sure enough, as one DUP source told the Spectator:
“Corbyn was a punch to roll with. He was elected after all. And ultimately he’s a ‘holy fool’ of the left; it’s not to say he’s harmless, just that he’s fundamentally naive. But McDonnell? He was *chosen*. It’s sending us a message loud and clear and we’ve heard it.’”
The sad truth is that the Labour Party which, under Tony Blair, had been able to count the Good Friday Agreement as one of its proudest achievements now risks losing its position as an honest broker in Northern Ireland.
Vernon Coaker, who has returned as shadow Northern Ireland secretary, now has a mountain to climb in regaining the confidence of the unionist community.
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor at Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter
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11 Responses to “Corbyn’s Northern Ireland headache explained”
Selohesra
“With an all-important vote on military intervention in Syria likely to take place after conference season, the votes of DUP MPs in such a finely balanced parliament could be crucial.”
Actually I think Dave might not go for that vote now – I doubt he cares much either way about military action but might not want to give Labour MPs opposed to Corbyn a chance to rebel and vote for action. Dave wants to keep Corbyn in power for a while not undermine him too soon.
Elaine
While Unionists won’t be wild about the appointment of McDonnell, their allegiances rarely lie with Labour anyway, and they would almost always prefer to work with a Conservative government given the choice. Their policy on the bedroom tax is less principled than it is self-serving; NI has suffered under austerity as it is generally a lower income, lower employment area, and the DUP were scrambling for votes from the working class unionists. So I don’t think Labour will suffer excessively, although I don’t envy Vernon Coaker his job right now.
David Lindsay
The DUP despises the Tories.
David Lindsay
There being, as much as anything else, no National Health Service in the Irish Republic, Unionists do not share Jeremy Corbyn’s aspiration that Northern Ireland be incorporated into that Republic with the consent of the greater number of the inhabitants of each of the two current jurisdictions. However, they do recognise that that aspiration is shared by considerable numbers of people in all parts of Northern Ireland.
They do not necessarily agree with Corbyn’s equal condemnation of all violence by State and non-State actors alike during the course of the Troubles. However, they do acknowledge that that, too, is a legitimate view, and that it includes a full condemnation of Republican paramilitary activity.
In expressing his desire to see abortion and same-sex marriage extended to Northern Ireland, positions with either or both of which at least most Unionists are in strong disagreement, Corbyn accepts that those questions can be decided only by the Northern Ireland Assembly. His parliamentary and wider support within the Labour Party contained and contains the full range of opinion on those matters.
Although Corbyn is in principle in favour of the replacement of the monarchy with an elected Head of State, he gives that no priority, and there is in any case no possibility that any such proposal would ever pass in a referendum that he has indicated that he would not even seek to hold.
Corbyn is a supporter of the Palestinian cause, but he has repeatedly expressed his acceptance of the existence of the State of Israel. Again, there are staunch friends of Israel among his supporters in his own party. Unionists will not be unaware of the anti-British terrorist past of modern Zionism, or of the views of Arab Protestants in the Holy Land today. The DUP and Sylvia Hermon remain as opposed as ever to war in Syria, and Lady Hermon is even opposed to Trident.
Those who remain devoted either to Margaret Thatcher or to Tony Blair are the last people in any position to accuse anyone else of disloyalty to the pro-Union community in Northern Ireland, a community, moreover, that is suffering no less than any other as a consequence of the present British Government’s austerity programme. Corbyn’s is a leading parliamentary voice against that programme, and, like most Unionist MPs including all of the DUP, he votes accordingly, even while others prefer the abstentionism of Sinn Féin.
All in all, there is no reason why Unionists could not work with him. They already do.
Elaine
The DUP despises pretty much everyone, besides the DUP. Surely we can agree that they are more in line with Tory views than Labour views, generally?