Pushing Forward Northern Irish Unionism

As you may well have gathered by now (!), this is a Unionist blog and whilst it is all very satisfying to point out your opponents’ deficiencies, longer term I want to also concentrate a bit more on the positives of unionism and look at possible future strategies.

Today, I’m going to concentrate on the Northern Irish brand of unionism.
As I see it, Unionism within Northern Ireland has two possible options for the short-term future. Firstly, it can join Sinn Fein down in the gutters fighting every inch of the way in all the various “communal” battles- the Sinners want an Irish language Act, obviously then not a good thing (conveniently ignoring the fact that it is also a part of Ulster protestant heritage, in the vanguard of its revival in the mid 19th century we find several Presbyterian ministers), the Sinners want the Orange Order’s right to walk the “Queen’s Highway” restricted, Unionist must therefore 100% support the Orange (conveniently ignoring the fact that even in Unionist strongholds such as Bangor, there may be perfectly acceptable objections to this unfettered “right to walk”).

If Unionism continues to concentrate on these “cultural” battlefields, then it is playing straight into Sinn Fein’s hands, these are battles which cannot be won in 2007; the best that can ever be hoped for is a sectarian stalemate.

But what if it (Unionism) stops wrestling in the mud and instead starts to push ideas and policies beyond the normal sectarian boundaries?

Despite no great love of Brown’s superficial concept of “Britishness”, a firm majority in Wales and Scotland remain in favour of the Union- does that make them “Unionists”? Possibly with a small “u”, but not in the sense normally understood in Northern Ireland. But if we are to promote and strengthen the Union, we have to discover and capitalise on the reasons why people still, despite the relentless propaganda, believe that the continuance of the UK is in their long-term material interest. But the important thing to bear in mind is that fighting over communal symbols and situations does not and cannot push forward our political ideology.

The Union flag is my flag, I don’t need to fly it tattered and torn from the nearest lamp-post to prove that fact. Similarly, I believe in the concept of the constitutional monarchy, I don’t need to have a photo of Queen Elizabeth 2 on my television to prove this. More importantly, I’m part of the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, liberal European democracy that is the United Kingdom. I’m proud of that fact, but if other citizens of Northern Ireland do not feel the same way as I do about “Britishness”, then fine, but that does not necessarily mean that they are lost to the unionist cause. There are good, solid economic, cultural and social reasons why Northern Ireland should remain a part of the United Kingdom and emphasising and stressing these is what political unionism should be doing rather than engaging in the communal dogfight with Sinn Fein and others.

Such a hard-headed and objective version of unionism will not necessarily alienate the traditional unionist base, or at least, it will always be there when really needed, e.g. at the times of the Border Referendum etc. Furthermore a community that faced and survived everything that the IRA and Irish republicanism could throw at them over the 3 decades of the Troubles is quite capable, without political help, of ensuring that Sinn Fein is made to fight every inch of the way in its attempt to build a monocultural future and rewrite the history of the Troubles.

But the floating 15-20-25% of the population who probably would hesitate to describe themselves as British, but are, nevertheless, currently unionist by default, should not be taken for granted. Why do they wish the Union to remain? Let’s find out these reasons, emphasise them and strengthen them wherever possible. Let’s make them a part of the core philosophy of Northern Irish unionism.

Let’s make our message a positive one…..the ultimate economic and social well-being of our country is much better served within the context of the tried and tested United Kingdom than the separation path presently being offered up by Irish nationalism