With the traditional Orange marching season now ended, it is timely to review certain events in the North. Unlike times past when assessing summer in the six counties, this year attention has turned towards differences within sections of the pro-union community rather than confrontations with their neighbours.
To be precise, we are referring to a contest between the DUP and the TUV for primacy. And while those outside that particular political arena may be tempted to smile at the prospect of unionist upheaval, it would be a mistake to become complacent and treat it as amusement.
As mentioned above, the struggle for the leadership of right-wing unionism is heating up. With the last Stormont election leaving the late Ian Paisley’s party in second place behind Sinn Féin, concern grew within the DUP that they had lost a crucial number of votes to their rivals in the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). Concern has recently turned to panic as the latest quarterly LucidTalk opinion poll published by the Belfast Telegraph shows a consistent narrowing in support between the two.
It is necessary to exercise caution when referring to opinion polls. This is particularly important when applied to Northern Irish politics. Often a view expressed to a pollster may not indicate how the respondent will eventually vote. That caveat notwithstanding, the latest poll scoring the DUP at 17% and the TUV at 13% reaffirms a consistent trend. Jim Allister’s TUV is not only narrowing the ground between it and the DUP but has been doing so over a sustained period.
In other words, this result is not a ‘flash in the pan’. The DUP’s leaders are very aware of this. The party’s Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan was recently quoted by the Belfast Telegraph warning DUP voters against considering switching to TUV.
Determined not to allow his rivals to regain momentum, the TUV leader recently availed himself of an opportunity to maintain his advantage. Stormont Deputy First Minister, the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly, was cajoled into endorsing a plan to have the local NHS provide care for a tiny number (two at most) of seriously injured children from Gaza. Realising that there was unease within the DUP over the offer, Jim Allister introduced a sour note. While agreeing to participate in a UK-wide scheme, he said he did not want those coming here to “acquire residency rights”, thereby creating difficulty down the line for the DUP.
In the face of this challenge, the DUP reacted quickly. Firmly ensconced on the reactionary end of the political spectrum since its foundation, the party’s elected representatives acted in keeping with its long-established ethos.
Seizing opportunistically on events in England, where the High Court granted an injunction to a district council giving it the right to refuse migrants access to a local hotel, the DUP took their lead from the English. Ignoring the fact that only three hotels in the six counties house a mere 288 asylum seekers, the Democratic Unionists instigated legal actions demanding that three local government authorities remove the migrant residents from the hotel accommodation.
Not only is this distasteful, but in light of very recent racially motivated rioting in some of the council districts named by the DUP, it is surely irresponsible behaviour at best if not actually dangerous. Undoubtedly, such a move by elected members of the Assembly will give a spurious ‘legitimacy’ to the hate-filled message spewing from local fascists. Keep in mind too that this latter grouping—i.e., fascists—is now island-wide.
Unfortunately, these clear threats to society in general have not met with any credible response from other political parties in the Assembly. Hand-wringing and tut-tutting of course, but positive action… none. And this goes to the heart of the fundamental failure that is Northern Ireland; there is no Plan B being advocated by those elected.
Fear of once again bringing down the devolved administration and thereby ending their cosy arrangements ensures that no decisive steps will be taken to address important issues. Not even a demand for a review of the stultifying aspects of the Good Friday Agreement. Consequently, with reactionaries determining the agenda, even issues that should be non-contentious, such as green algae contaminating Lough Neagh, remain unaddressed.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP say they favour ending the failed six-county political entity through Irish reunification. Yet that still raises two questions. What happens in the meantime, and what kind of Ireland will there be post-reunification if reactionaries in the north are not engaged with beforehand?
There are answers to these questions, but they are not to be found in the sclerotic northern Assembly. The solution lies in the implementation of a socialist programme across the entire island, and the sooner the better for everybody.
