A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland

This is the text of a 'Platform' article published in the News Letter 2 April 2010

The Human Rights Commission’s remit in regard to a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland was fulfilled when it delivered its advice to the Secretary of State. The debate now belongs in the political arena.

We are at the end of the extended Government consultation period on their proposals. The reality is that the election is upon us and nothing will happen before the next parliament. Conservatives and Unionists have pledged to enact a UK wide Bill of Rights with a section for Northern Ireland. No-one should expect that section to be significantly bigger than Labour’s proposals, (though it might address different issues).

We have had over ten years of deliberation by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, we have had the Bill of Rights forum; a foreign philanthropic foundation has invested millions of pounds in lobbying and advertising by non statutory bodies. One might ask why such an organisation should consider the amending of human rights legislation in Northern Ireland in a particular way to be a cause worthy of disbursing so many millions of pounds.

It is appropriate to reflect on where we go from here.

The NIHRC proposals are dead in the water. There can be no doubt about that. But the time is ripe for change in human rights legislation across the UK.

The Human Rights Act is twelve years old. It has put judges in positions of political controversy. It has created a culture of rights without responsibilities. And it has failed to protect traditional freedoms.

Recently a doctor convicted in the UK of sexually assaulting two of his patients had his conviction in a British court overturned at Strasbourg because the Strasbourg court held that his right to a fair trial had been violated. One of his victims had committed suicide after giving a statement to the police. The British court allowed the statement to be given in evidence, in accord with British law. Strasbourg quashed his conviction, because he hadn’t been able to examine one of his accusers.

Many lawyers think that it is time to bring Human Rights home – to stop the confusion that can arise when judges are obliged to take into account two sometimes conflicting bodies of law.

If elected, Conservatives and Unionists will bring forward proposals for a UK Bill of Rights to strengthen and better protect our traditional liberties, with a section dealing with any issues specific to Northern Ireland. We don’t need any other special treatment.

UUP and Conservative Candidate

I am delighted at being selected as candidate for Lagan Valley for the Ulster Unionist and Conservative parties.

The link between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Conservative Party is the obvious and natural course of action for the UUP at this stage in the implementation of the constitutional settlement we achieved in 1998.

Anyone who suggests that it is an electoral pact made for cheap gain demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of Unionism. At the heart of Unionism lies the preservation of the Union, but not in any subordinate capacity, or as a lesser part of the United Kingdom. Yes, there have been times over the past fifty years when we felt we were clinging on to the edge of the Union, but there has been a sea change in the attitude of our fellow Brits to Northern Ireland in the past few years, and we in the UUP have recognised and welcomed this. In his party conference speech, David Cameron who we expect to be the next Prime Minister said this ‘I am passionate about our Union and I will never do anything to put it at risk. And because of the new political force we have created with the Ulster Unionists, I’m proud that at the next election we will be the only party fielding candidates in every part of the United Kingdom.’ And as he said it he looked directly at David and me sitting in the audience.

Conservatives and Unionists are offering Ulster voters of whatever religious persuasion the opportunity to play a fuller role in the politics of the state. Our MPs will not sit in Westminster on the sidelines, but will be an integral part of the next party of government. No other party can offer as much.

We are doing what we can to bring normal politics to Northern Ireland; if we make progress in this at the election then I expect Labour to follow suit and field candidates here. Our actions have the potential to transform politics; to allow people to choose between the sets of social and economic policies offered by the parties that aspire to govern them, rather than simply registering their adherence to a particular national tradition or aspiration.

Why Ulster Unionists should not give in to DUP manipulation

At St Andrews the DUP insisted on an amendment to the 1998 Belfast Agreement that provided that the leader of the largest party at Stormont was to be the First Minister.

This was no gaffe. It was a deliberate ploy to be used in the very situation we now find ourselves.

And we are in danger of falling for it.

The prospect of a Sinn Fein First Minister would be tough for the Unionist electorate. The DUP have used this spectre in the past to blackmail the electorate into voting for them.
Now that their star is waning, and Unionism may be split three ways, they are using the same argument to try and do a deal with us so that they can hold on to something.

It is against this background that we should look at the private Hatfield House talks last weekend.

A week ago the Ulster Unionists were on a roll; the DUP in disarray over Robinsonsgate and a decisive by-election win with 64% of the vote in Lurgan, following on from a great result in the European poll earlier in the year.

Now there is angst amongst some in our party that if we fight an Assembly election and beat the DUP we will be a smaller party than Sinn Fein. The prospect of being deputy to Martin McGuinness is not palatable.

The DUP are in big trouble; they want to save their skins by destabilising our deal with the Conservatives. Shoring up their own supporters with talks of electoral pacts to save Robinson's skin is how they hope to survive intact.

But when have the DUP ever shown any concern for the common good; their tactics over the years have always been to predict doom and gloom if the electorate follows us, and then, when they achieve power to steal our clothes. They are at the same game today - remember how they wanted to do a deal with Cameron - but he wouldn't have them.

If, in an Assembly election, we were to end up the largest unionist party, with Sinn Fein as the largest party overall, what might happen? If we were unable to form an executive, another election would be triggered. The electorate’s minds might be concentrated by that; and a second Assembly election in short order would give unionist voters the chance to sort things out.

Campaigning in Craigavon Council by-election

After spending the last few days canvassing our old stomping ground of Lurgan in support of Jo-Anne Dobson running for Council in the by-election due on 13 January, it is clear that the mood of the electorate has changed.

The last time I canvassed here was 2005, perhaps the low point for the UUP over the last number of years, and while most people were polite on the doorstep, they were not welcoming. It was interesting that we were not then met with the venom we had received in earlier, successful, campaigns from DUP supporters.

In the European election earlier this year, I canvassed widely around Lisburn. The single biggest issue on the doorstep was MPs’ expenses, but overall people were mostly welcoming and responded positively to the link up with the Conservatives.

This time I feel there is a greater change in our favour. A good many people expressed their delight at seeing David on their doorstep again. Expenses still get a mention, but it is not as raw an issue as earlier this year. Some people raised genuine council issues, e.g. swimming pools, but quite a number greeted us with ‘At least you are not the DUP’.

There remains a less than clear understanding of the implications of the UUP/Conservative link, but all comments I received about it are wholly favourable.

Our canvassing team has been very upbeat, turning up in substantial numbers, despite treacherous conditions underfoot.

Turn-out will be very low, as always in a by-election, but particularly if the snow remains until polling day, as weather forecasters are predicting. I am confident we will repeat the success of the Dromore by-election. This will be a great morale booster to lead us in to our next election campaign.

Human Rights Consortium is wrong

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Consortium has firmly rejected the government’s proposals for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, describing them as ‘pitifully limited’, unacceptable’ and ‘disrespectful’.

They want widespread new rights, including socio-economic rights, including ‘effective enforcement mechanisms’.

But the Consortium fails to look at the big picture.

Our society, irrespective of who is in government, wants its people to be able to live their lives to their full potential. Broadly there are three planks to how this is achieved:

Firstly the democratic process – the right for the electorate to tell a government to be gone, the right to peaceful regime change, if you like, and through the choice of a governing party, also to choose between the respective policies offered by the parties.

Secondly, the pursuit of broad social goals that are shared in society and which form the core of any government’s agenda and policy, whether it be Labour or Conservative. Striving to achieve freedom from hunger, freedom to have shelter, freedom to seek employment, health provision, etc. is the aim of policy formulated by the freely elected government.

And thirdly, the legally enforceable universal rights and freedoms guaranteed internationally by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and in Europe by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Consortium and others are trying to bring the justiciability that rightly attaches to these universal human rights in to the proposed ‘socio-economic rights’ and thus fetter government’s ability to implement policy and to allocate resources.

If democracy means anything, it means that government is accountable directly to the electorate. The ‘effective enforcement mechanisms’ that the Consortium proposes would mean that government was accountable in court to the judiciary, at the call of the person bringing the case, who, under the current proposals could be an unaccountable body such as the Consortium.

New Blog

2010 promises to be a busy year. 

I have (rashly?) decided to join the select band of bloggers, with what will be occasional thoughts and musings on matters political, particularly with regard to Northern Ireland, for whoever wants to read them.