Everybody has an opinion on Northern Ireland. It’s one of the many drawbacks of being from this part of the world. We’re a talking point for other people, an easily weaponised subject to be used and cast aside for ulterior motives. Brexit has allowed this to play out on the international stage. We’ve become a proxy in a culture war. The main actors care little for Northern Ireland or the people who live here.
On 20 January 2020, in a pre-Covid world, the Northern Ireland assembly voted to withhold consent for the withdrawal agreement. The agreement, hailed as a triumph by the British government and the European Union, was rejected by every party in the assembly. The assembly members had different reasons for voting against the agreement and different agendas, but on this issue they were united. In December of 2019, every Northern Ireland MP sitting in the Westminster parliament had voted against the deal.
Despite this, the EU and the British government weren’t very concerned. It turns out that it doesn’t matter if we don’t like the withdrawal agreement. As Northern Ireland picked up the pieces of Brexit, the world moved on.
You can imagine the surprise when Boris Johnson announced his intention to mitigate the Northern Ireland protocol by passing the internal market bill. The prime minister appears to have taken his “oven ready” deal out of the bin and inspected it for the first time. He says he’s now acting to protect the Good Friday agreement and prevent a border down the Irish Sea.
But, although it breaks international law, the internal market bill doesn’t stop a sea border. The Good Friday agreement says nothing about a customs border down the Irish Sea or, indeed, a customs border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Johnson, who barely considered Northern Ireland during the Brexit campaign, is hardly a bannerman for our peace process. While feigning concern about a sea border he appears willing to risk a hard border on the island of Ireland. He is playing one community off against the other while cosplaying as a unionist.
With the UK set to breach its international obligations, the European Union has responded by saying that it is the one protecting the Good Friday agreement. The fact that the assembly didn’t consent to the withdrawal agreement, that people in Northern Ireland have serious issues with it, seems lost on the commission as it pats itself on the back. The EU can hardly claim to be an impartial broker.
Johnson’s move has led to interventions from the US presidential candidate Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and four influential US congressmen. All of them believe the internal market bill threatens the Good Friday agreement. Pelosi and Biden have both said that the British government won’t get a US trade deal if it threatens the peace process.
While Biden and Pelosi’s interventions should make the prime minister consider the implications of his actions, they aren’t helpful. In appearing to dismiss concerns about a sea border, Biden is angering unionists. It hasn’t helped that he’s endorsed a letter signed by congressman Peter King, a man with strong Irish republican sympathies.
Nigel Farage, along with other rightwingers, has accused the presidential candidate of anti-Britishness. Why Biden is being anti-British for talking about protecting the Good Friday agreement, which includes a treaty between the UK and Ireland, is anybody’s guess. This is culture war stuff, boring and useless when it comes to the matter at hand. Northern Ireland is being used to project jingoistic nonsense.
Biden, like Trump and every other US president, has a single priority: the United States. Whoever is sitting in the Oval Office in January next year will want a trade deal that advances US interests. The NHS, our food market and workers’ rights will all be up for grabs. Just because Biden is concerned about the Good Friday agreement doesn’t mean he’s good for Northern Ireland.
As for the prime minister, his newfound concern for Northern Ireland is laughable. We are being dangled and used as bait so the British government can secure concessions from the EU. When the government gets what it wants, it, and the European Union, will leave Northern Ireland to deal with the mess of the withdrawal agreement.
The Good Friday agreement succeeded because its architects understood that Northern Ireland could only move forward by addressing the concerns of both communities. The agreement created an imperfect peace but, at its heart, it was about building consensus. All of that seems lost in the noise created by Johnson, Biden, Farage and the EU.
Northern Ireland was at the heart of Brexit, exposing its contradictions and throwing already divided communities down on either side of the debate. If people truly want to protect and honour the Good Friday agreement, they could start by putting self-interest aside. Northern Ireland deserves a future where both communities feel respected and secure.
Sarah Creighton is a lawyer, writer and political commentator from Northern Ireland
