Opinion

Newton Emerson: Theresa May shows cavalier ignorance of sensitive issue

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television.

Prime Minister Theresa May. Picture by Steve Parsons, Press Association
Prime Minister Theresa May. Picture by Steve Parsons, Press Association Prime Minister Theresa May. Picture by Steve Parsons, Press Association

How could Prime Minister Theresa May make such a recklessly inaccurate statement in the House of Commons, claiming “the only people being investigated” for Troubles crimes “are those in our armed forces or those who served in law enforcement in Northern Ireland”?

May’s comment followed a statement by secretary of state Karen Bradley that “the current status quo involves a disproportionate emphasis on the actions of the military and law-enforcement bodies during the troubles and “the only people getting knocks on the door from the police to tell them that they face inquests are from the military.”

Bradley can perhaps stand over her latter anecdotal point, which may have confused May over the difference between inquests and police investigations. However, even this kindest explanation suggests remarkably cavalier ignorance on a profoundly sensitive issue.

Sinn Féin has pointed out that a home secretary just had to resign for inadvertently misleading the House. But who in the Commons will pull May up on the prosecution of soldiers, an issue that has become so totemic in Britain?

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The ultimate absurdity on the row over dealing with the past is that an amnesty for security force personnel and paramilitaries was agreed between Sinn Féin and the British government well over a decade ago and progressed as far as a 2005 bill in the House of Commons.

The government of the day was Labour but the Tories did not object and unionist parties barely cared enough to notice. It took repeated complaints from the SDLP to embarrass Sinn Féin into withdrawing support, causing the Northern Ireland Office to withdraw the bill.

For republicans, unionists and Conservatives to now pontificate on an amnesty as if none of this ever happened reveals a statute of limitations on their recent past. It is safe to say that resurrecting this amnesty in some shape or form remains London and Sinn Féin’s preferred future.

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The DUP has withdrawn the whip from former minister Jim Wells after he went public with an internal row on his reinstatement.

This means Sinn Féin and the DUP now have the same number of assembly members - 27.

The law enacting the Good Friday and St Andrews agreements says that in this event, the tie-breaker when nominating a first minister is “the number of first preference votes cast for the parties” in the preceding assembly election.

The DUP had 1,168 more votes than Sinn Fein in that election – but 7,786 of its votes were for Wells. Or were they for the party? And would they still count towards the DUP total?

It would all make for a fascinating legal case, except that of course the DUP would reinstate Wells in a heartbeat if there was any sign of Stormont coming back.

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The Paramilitary Crime Task Force, which combines policing with civil recovery powers, has delivered a blunt demonstration of what this entails. Officers stopped a car on the M1 while investigating republican criminality. They seized £3,000 in cash from the vehicle but made no arrests and let the occupants proceed on their way. Anyone wishing to reclaim the money need only establish how they lawfully acquired it.

Perversely, it is the lack of arrests that highlights the impact of this new approach. You would need a heart of stone not to laugh.

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In all the fuss over Mid Ulster Council’s draft bonfire policy, which has now added insurance to its requirements on organisers, it seems to have been forgotten that this only applies to council property.

Like a vampire not invited over the threshold, the council is powerless on anyone else’s property. So why not borrow, rent or buy a patch of private land to create what loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson might call a “cultural expression zone”? Such land can admittedly be scarce or expensive in built-up areas but agricultural land is cheap and there is no town in Mid Ulster where every house is not within a few minutes' stroll of open fields. It is not clear how organised this stroll would have to be to require notification to the Parades Commission.

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Sinn Féin has once again raised the case of republican prisoner Tony Taylor, who has been returned to custody under licence. The party says any evidence of Taylor breaching his licence should be “put before him and his legal team in an open court so this can be challenged” - a presumably wilful misunderstanding of how licensing works.

The whole point of early release is that it is an extra-judicial privilege. The prisoner is being freed earlier than decided by the judge at their trial, without having to prove to a court they deserve it. If Sinn Féin does not accept the legitimacy of this system, the logical conclusion is that Taylor and all other prisoners should never be released on licence in the first place.

newton@irishnnews.com