Inside Britain's House of Commons Pol O Muiri
C.S. Lewis, Belfast man and writer, is probably best known for his fiction and his Christian apologetics. His works on Narnia have enthralled children for decades while works like Mere Christianity, have provided solace and guidance for adult readers. Narnia is, of course, a mythical and mysterious place where wondrous and unexpected things happen.
There was a touch of Narnia about Westminster last week when two Labour MPs, Conor McGinn and Stella Creasy, managed to pull off the political stroke of the century and attach amendments to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill. Their proposals will bring in same-sex marriage and a more liberal abortion regime to Northern Ireland if the Assembly in Belfast is not up and running by October 21.
Both matters are supposed to be devolved issues in the North, that is to say, they are supposed to be legislated for in the local Assembly and not in Westminster. However, the Assembly has not sat for over two years now, although those elected to the forum continue to draw their salary.
Supporters of same-sex marriage and abortion were delighted with this very British coup. The online bragging was instant and joyous; the DUP had been humbled, outmanoeuvred and Northern Ireland was being dragged into the 21st Century. The democratic deficit meant nothing much to them; they had won and the other side had lost and that was enough in the green and orange world of Northern politics.
Targeting the DUP for abuse was understandable in many ways. The party is the most visible platform for a certain type of unbending Ulster Protestant morality. They had done their best to stave off same-sex marriage in the Assembly and are not in favour of liberal abortion – but other Protestants share those concerns.
Background
The News Letter, read mainly by people from a unionist and Protestant background, led with the story on its front page under the headline: ‘MPs impose abortion and gay marriage law’. A minister for the Free Presbyterian Church, the church of the DUP’s late founder, the Rev. Ian Paisley, told the local press that they were “totally opposed” to same-sex marriage and abortion on demand and that the process in Westminster had been an “affront to democracy”.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland said that there were “many pressing issues to be dealt with in Northern Ireland, not least those affecting our schools, hospitals, social care and welfare systems. These affect the lives of many of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society, including the victims of our violent past. Political cherry-picking of issues by MPs, when talks to restore devolution to Northern Ireland are on-going and should be encouraged, is both regrettable and unhelpful, running contrary to the spirit of devolution”.
Representatives of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Church of Ireland and Evangelical Alliance NI also spoke of their concerns over the proposed changes and their likely effects. The various regiments of Protestants were rallying to the cross and, of course, the Catholic Church’s opposition to both issues is well known by this stage. That is a lot of people whose views and votes have been cast aside in the Mother of Parliaments.
One might have expected some kickback from the two main nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and the SDLP whose voters are, for the most part, from a Catholic background. Sinn Féin are in favour of both same-sex marriage and more liberal abortion while the SDLP favour same-sex marriage but are, nominally, pro-life. Sinn Féin’s MPs do not sit in Westminster – though they do take their salary – and the SDLP have no MPs, having lost them all to Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin’s Derry MP, Eilisha McCallion, tweeted about events: “Anything that helps end the denial of rights is a good thing, but the job is not done. The British govt has a track record of ignoring democracy and denying rights – anything to help them cling to power by pandering to the DUP.”
The DUP, canny operators, did not know that they were going to be shellacked twice?”
Leader of the SDLP Colum Eastwood, likewise from Derry, said in a statement: “Today is a good day for Northern Ireland and for our LGBT+ community. After decades of discrimination, intolerance and abuse, often at the hands of the state, we have at last taken a step toward recognising the love of LGBT+ people as equal to that of anyone else. This is a watershed moment.” (He did not address the issue of Creasy’s abortion amendment.)
The SDLP made their peace long ago with Westminster and can rightly boast of their use of the system to argue their case for constitutional nationalism during the darkest days of the Troubles. Sinn Féin however are supposed to be the republican movement and their supporters used to talk about the North as being “the Occupied Six Counties”. Yet, here they were, welcoming direct rule from Westminster, the seat of the occupier’s power. No political party wants to be shown up as ineffective, least of all one that fancies itself as a vehicle for national liberation, yet Sinn Féin took the win as its own. After all, if the DUP were annoyed it can’t be bad, can it?
Still, a cynical person might think that the whole thing smacks of a sham fight, another choreographed dance in the peace process where the most important thing is never, ever, to examine the process too closely but to keep voters’ eyes on what has happened and what might happen.
No inkling
We are asked to believe that the DUP, who are propping up the Conservative government and are supposed to be canny operators, had no inkling that two low-ranking backbenchers were going to be able to muster hundreds of votes to pass amendments which cut the political ground from underneath them?
McGinn’s amendment for same-sex marriage passed by 383 votes to 73 while Creasy’s abortion amendment passed by 332 votes to 99. That is some achievement for humble backbenchers and the DUP, canny operators, did not know that they were going to be shellacked twice?
A cynical person might think that the whole thing smacks of a sham fight, another choreographed dance in the peace process”
Further, we are asked to believe that the House of Commons, destroyed by Brexit, found unity of purpose in acting en masse for a place most MPs have not visited and never will? The Conservative party, at war over Brexit, found peace in Northern Ireland? The Labour Party, at war over Brexit and allegations of anti-Semitism, found its own ceasefire in Northern Ireland? English, Scots and Welsh MPs, Tory, Labour and Nationalist, were moved by their moral impulses to address Northern Irish politics?
And all this with a deadline of October 21, 10 days – 10 days! – before the United Kingdom is supposed to leave the European Union?
Narnia indeed.