Speech by Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland
Conference, despite all the challenges, Northern Ireland is a
thriving part of our United Kingdom.
Its creative industries go from strength to strength,
entertaining and thrilling people across the world.
And it is a powerhouse in cybersecurity and financial services,
in Europe and beyond.
But the politics of Northern Ireland is hurting.
The assembly and executive lie dormant, the divide between
communities widens.
Progress has stalled.
This should worry us all – and would spur any decent government
into action.
But not this one.
For months after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed, there
was no visit from the Tory prime minister.
No multi-party talks in Downing Street.
Not even a statement to Parliament.
Conference, the greatest threat to progress in Northern Ireland
is not misguided policy.
It’s not even the lies told by this rotten government.
The biggest threat is Tory neglect.
The only hope of progress is a Labour government.
The Tories see problems as a chance for a row, to deepen
division.
We see problems as a chance to solve the challenges that hold us
back, to create new opportunities and bring people together.
That requires a leader capable of statecraft. Who knows hard
graft.
Who shows people respect, even when they sometimes disagree.
That’s why I’m proud to have as our leader.
He has the skills Northern Ireland needs to succeed.
Unlike , who creates more problems than she solves.
To imagine what Labour can deliver for Northern Ireland, just
look at what we did deliver.
Next Easter we mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good
Friday Agreement.
That totemic moment in time when leaders from across political
divides and communities decided a new future was possible.
It was only there to grasp because a Labour prime minister with
his Northern Ireland secretary believed in their hearts that
radical change wasn’t just possible, it was deliverable in that
moment.
They put in the time.
They brought people together.
They pulled the impossible into reach and provided the
opportunities that leaders in Northern Ireland, and the Irish
Government, had the courage to seize.
Conference, we salute those who made peace possible, with a
Labour government.
We thank and the remarkable, one-off
talent of our Mo Mowlam.
We recognise the courage of David Trimble who we said goodbye to
this summer, and John Hume.
They led their communities into an era defined by peace and
growing prosperity.
Labour bequeathed the Tories a Northern Ireland that was
increasingly at ease.
But they squandered it with their lies and neglect.
It was the Tories who proposed, drafted, negotiated and signed
the Northern Ireland protocol into international treaty.
Yes, there are issues with it, but they can be solved.
We know that negotiation is the only path forward.
But a year has already been wasted.
A year in which politics in Northern Ireland has stumbled and the
Tory government in Westminster looked the other way.
A Labour government would deliver rapid deals with the EU on the
flow of goods, the sharing of data and making it easier for
agricultural products to move around the UK and the island of
Ireland.
We’ll fight hard for our interests using statecraft, diligence
and graft - not the Tory way, which always seems to end, somehow,
in breaking the law.
The difference in approach and ambition between the Tories and
Labour couldn’t be starker.
Labour delivered peace, prosperity and confidence to Northern
Ireland.
The Tories can’t even negotiate a prawn sandwich across the Irish
Sea.
Conference, the people of Northern Ireland deserve better.
With and a Labour government they
will have it.
