Duncan Smith: Urges Government to Prepare for Irish Unity

This is a welcome Bill and our thanks to Sinn Féin who have brought it forward for discussion this evening. It's not just a timely chance for this House to discuss the fundamental issue of Irish unity, it is a chance for us and for your government to finally get serious on the important work of preparing for constitutional change. It's been clear for some years that not moving forward with urgency just won't cut it. There's a job of work to be done and this Bill sets out a path for beginning to get that work underway. A Green Paper, a constitutional convention and proper cross-community consultation North and South are all steps that we in the Labour Party have repeatedly called for over recent years, as it's become increasingly clear that this conversation is happening with or without the government taking the lead. The decade since Brexit has seen the question of unity rising up the public agenda. That is a reality that has perhaps ebbed and flowed over those years, but what is crystal clear is that it is not going away. In May, an Amoric poll from the European Movement of Ireland indicated that if a referendum were held tomorrow on a united Ireland and the EU, 59% in the Republic would vote in favour, 22% against, with 63% in favour in the North and 29% against. The prospect of a Nigel Farage-led government in London after the next UK general election, today's theatrics notwithstanding, would shift the parameters yet again. We've heard calls to simply ignore the issue. Last year the UK Secretary of State told us there was no appetite for constitutional change in Northern Ireland. But putting our heads in the sand is simply not an option. We need our government to take the lead on these discussions and to be the responsible broker needed for the necessary preparations to take place. It is time for the difficult work of preparing in earnest for unity to begin. We've seen the perils of running a referendum hastily. To proceed without the hard work of planning and debate would be deeply misguided. That is precisely why it is so important that we begin the process now of preparing for a united Ireland. We need a clear timetable to allow for the development of green and white papers, to allow for the work of citizens' assemblies to take place and to allow for the conversations and debates that need to happen across our island. So the measures in this Bill are to be very much welcomed as common sense steps towards a responsible, structured process of preparation. It almost goes without saying that what's at play in this debate is not to be taken lightly. The deep questions that are at play when it comes to constitutional change get to the very heart of who we are as a people, how we want to live and what shape our country and our society will take. These questions are of course shaped by history, by deeply held identities and by people's lived experiences over the last century, North and South. We should always be sensitive and understanding to those realities. These are profoundly forward-looking questions, questions of the future. The conversation about Irish unity can't be about some hidebound debate about an Ireland of the last century. It must be focused on a new Ireland that isn't just united but is equal and fair for all its citizens. We all know that the Ireland of 2026, North and South, has changed deeply from that of 1998. It is a vastly more diverse and more pluralist society. It's larger in population terms, with larger economies both North and South. It's more engaged and intertwined with the rest of the world. But in many ways it's a less equal society, with regional inequality growing significantly both North and South since the agreement. As our economies have grown, too many of our citizens have continually been left behind. That's not an experience unique to this island over the last number of decades, but we have a unique opportunity to correct our own course with the opportunities of a new Ireland. This needs to be a conversation about how best we build a real republic across the island, not just built on the values of equality and pluralism, but acting on those values and seeing them through in a way that delivers for ordinary people. The Ireland of 2026 is no longer one of the orange and the green. It's home to mixed identities, from across these islands and beyond, identities that themselves would have seemed unimaginable only a couple of generations ago. I believe that's something to be celebrated, it is something to be protected, not just from those who have pulled us backwards to a regressive, narrow vision of Irishness or Britishness, but from the risks that an unprepared, rushed unity debate could pose to that pluralist Ireland. As we progress towards unity, we cannot allow ourselves to be drawn back to the lazy, destructive binaries of the past. And crucially, we can never return to the normalised violence of the last century. Moving, removing or maintaining any border on this island can never come at the price of a human life. We in the Labour Party want to see a new, united Ireland, and we are unapologetic about that. But vitally, we want to see real, deep and yes, very difficult preparatory work put underway. The conversation is happening. To ignore it now is just irresponsible. It's impossible. The Irish Government, as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, has to play a leading role in this. The welcome work of the Taoiseach's shared Ireland unit has been hugely positive, but the time has come for more substantial preparation for change. This Bill, calling for a Citizens' Assembly and a Green Paper, spells out a roadmap for preparation that we can all support, and I would urge the Government to rethink their position and to back it.