Nuala O’Loan
The View
As I write this, I am wondering what will happen next at Westminster. Parliament will be prorogued within about ten days. Prorogation means the end of a parliament. When we come back by October 14, we will have a speech by Queen Elizabeth II which will contain the government’s proposals for the coming parliament.
This parliament has been limping along in a state of chaos for at least a year. We have been preparing for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, whilst the government has been trying to negotiate a deal which will form the basis for future trading arrangements etc., with the European Union (EU). I have seen parliament at its most dysfunctional over the last months and it has been very difficult to watch.
Nobody knows quite what to do. I have no doubt that it would be in the interests of all 28 Member States were there to be a Withdrawal Agreement. While the backstop appears to be in the interests of Ireland, it will mean that the UK’s withdrawal from the Customs Union will only occur if all the 27 other member states agree. In effect the UK will have no part in the decision about when it can leave.
Understandable
It is understandable that that is unacceptable to so many in the UK. Moreover, the requirement for a unanimous vote will provide an opportunity for individual states to bargain between themselves on matters not the subject of the UK’s withdrawal, but which are of interest to individual member states. That will make it all the more difficult for the UK to complete the withdrawal sought by 52% of those who voted in the referendum.
But, parliament has not yet been prorogued. We have another seven days or so before prorogation. We can and will talk about Brexit during that period. We do not know at this moment what agreement Prime Minister Boris Johnson might achieve by mid-October. We will not know until then.
We know that the EU is very concerned about the possible consequences of a ‘no-deal’ withdrawal. It is not in their interests to refuse totally to agree to some modification of the Theresa May agreement. The economic interests of the UK and the 27 are still inextricably linked. That means that there is also an inextricable dependence on each other for all our future prosperity.
However, were parliament to decree that the UK will not leave with ‘no-deal,’ that would fetter the UK’s negotiating capacity. Were the EU 27 to agree that a majority of Member States could consent to UK withdrawal and the end of the backstop, within a specified time period, rather than all Member States, this might make the necessary difference, and with a few more minor amendments an agreement might emerge which could be approved by parliament.
In the interests of all it is necessary that there be some movement on the backstop to allow a deal to which the UK parliament could agree. This could be done and there could be a deal on which parliament could debate and agree when the new session commences in mid-October, and before October 31.
Our future is at stake here, not just our political future”
If this does not happen the UK will face an election, in all probability. There is no clarity in the Brexit debate which would enable the people to understand where the different parties are in relation to Brexit. The results cannot be predicted. What we do know is that an election would not solve the Brexit problem. It would still be there after the votes have been counted.
This ongoing chaos in relation to Brexit will obscure the legitimate concerns of so many in Northern Ireland about abortion. The act passed in July was hijacked to achieve a number of aims, one of which was the introduction of abortion in the North. It was done in a matter of days over the July 12 holidays.
All the normal parliamentary conventions were abandoned. The rejection of the proposed abortion law by all our MPs and those members of the House of Lords living in Northern Ireland was ignored. It was a total denial of democracy.
So now we are left with the situation in which the Bill, now an act of Parliament, will come into effect on October 21 unless the Assembly takes up the reins of government again.
I know that Stormont was not functional for a variety of reasons. I know about RHI and the scandals attaching to that and other issues. I know that change in how business is done in Stormont is necessary, but the people who could make those changes are the elected MLAs. Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party could agree to go back into the Assembly before October 21 and try to make government work.
The NI Executive Functions Act would not then come into effect. We could make our own law as we think fit, on this and many other things. If it does not work, then they could pull the plug on the Assembly again, and we would, in all probability, move to another election.
Our future is at stake here, not just our political future – I spoke about this after the referendum in the House of Lords in 2016 asking whether government would provide any sort of reassurance that we will not be catapulted back 25 years to the days when we had customs checks on the border and when lorries queued for hours to cross it, at huge expense to business on both sides of the border?
I also pointed out that, “economics and peace are inextricably linked”. The voices of our elected MLAs have been silenced in this ongoing terrible debate – they are not the Northern Ireland Assembly, and so they cannot speak as the other devolved governments do, for their people.
I have seen the deficit at Westminster. The Northern Ireland Assembly needs to be back in business for the sake of all the people.
Communities
It is important, at this moment of crisis, that the people of Northern Ireland do not lose sight of the need to speak for the unborn, to call again on our politicians to return to Stormont. Tomorrow, Friday September 6 at 7pm people from all communities and denominations will gather in a silent protest at the gates of Stormont against this change in our law which will happen unless the Assembly returns by October 21. There will be no placards, no flags, just torches and light and a silent walk to the steps of Stormont at which we will lift our lights for six minutes – one minute for each county in the North. Can you come to this? Can you be a voice for the voiceless?
Then on Saturday September 7 at 1pm there will be Mass at St Patrick’s Church Donegall Street, Belfast, followed by ‘A March for Their Lives’ to Custom House Square and a rally at 2 pm there, at which there will be speakers. Can you come to this event?
We have just over a month to do what we can to try and protect the lives of NI’s future unborn children.