Defining Unionism IV - redefinitions

In the previous instalment I focused on Ulster Unionism’s relationship with British unionism and advocated a less apologetic approach to the ideological debate with Irish nationalism. However, perhaps the most immediate challenge for civically inclined, inclusive Ulster Unionism, is to reassert its values within unionism itself and meet the Ulster nationalism / cultural unionism increasingly emanating from the DUP with a clearly delineated alternative.

By way of explanation (and partially as a disclaimer) for some of the assumptions I make in this piece , as a member of the UUP, I am writing from the perspective that the type of unionism I have propounded thus far is most comfortably accommodated in that party. Some of my suggestions I will formulate as specifically pertinent to the UUP. I simultaneously acknowledge that it is not universally accepted that the natural home of this type of unionism need necessarily be the UUP (as opposed to other unionist or UK parties who organise here), nor do the members of that party necessarily share even an approximation of these views.

It is important from the outset to establish that whilst I am not instinctively a rabid devolutionist, I accept, as does the party I am a member of, the current constitutional arrangements in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Although integrationism had many merits, its day has gone and devolved governments are here to stay within the national regions of the United Kingdom. Opposing the Ulster nationalist impulse does not mean opposing devolution per se. It means emphasising the continued importance of the Union, refusing to adopt a default confrontational stance toward central government and defending the bonds that connect us to the rest of the UK. In short it means being a unionist.

The desire to remain in the United Kingdom, the unionist impulse, is still in my belief the predominant political instinct of the majority of people in Northern Ireland. The primary objective of true unionists is to establish some clarity in the electorate’s understanding of the various instincts masquerading as unionism, because I do not believe that the party currently commanding most of the unionist vote has been honest about its practical (and increasingly rhetorical) ambivalence to the Union. It is essential for the UUP in particular to establish itself as the party of Union and to explain with clarity and concision that the DUP is a party equivocal about the Union.

Some progress in this respect is being made, but there must be a much more centralised and concerted attempt to drill home this distinction in the minds of voters. If the electorate wish to vote for Ulster nationalists, they are entitled to do so, but it is for Ulster Unionists to bring transparency back to unionist politics and demarcate the parties in voters’ minds much more clearly. The DUP will not be candid about the true nature of the politics they espouse, so it is for their rivals to enforce integrity upon them. In recent weeks Ian Paisley has referred to Gordon Brown as “the enemy”, blamed the British government as the predominant cause behind Northern Ireland’s economy and infrastructure becoming atrophied and denounced central government’s ministers in Northern Ireland as “squatters”. Sinn Fein would be hard pushed to deliver such stridently anti British, anti-Union rhetoric. With the first minister making such statements, it is up to Ulster Unionists to point out, we see republicanism as “the enemy“ of unionism, we judge the 30 years of violence from their terror groups to make them most culpable in stunting our economy and we do not view ministers from our own sovereign parliament as interlopers in our government.

Whilst certainly I welcome figures from within the party beginning to advance these arguments (Michael Copeland’s correspondence in today’s Newsletter is an example), I detect that these are isolated arguments, not the resolute, centralised and persistent message we should be hearing from the leadership. There is a reluctance to firmly point out the Ulster nationalism of the DUP, lest Ulster particularism prove stronger among the electorate than fealty to the Union. As unionists we should have no such fears and even if this does prove the case then at least we have been honest and consistent. There will be no recovery for the Ulster Unionist Party, unless we are clear and distinct in our stance. A unionist party’s objective is to advance, defend and rationalise the case for Union. We should not be afraid to do just that. The alternative is to be a timid receptacle for transferred votes, unwilling or unable to declare unequivocally our beliefs and values.

As I have previously indicated in the second part of this series, the relationship between civic and cultural unionism is an ambiguous one. The idea that unionism must focus primarily on identity however, is false. The notion that a “linking narrative” between civic and cultural strands of unionism is necessary has one flaw; civic unionism can already happily accommodate cultural unionism, as it can cultural Irish nationalism and countless other cultures. Ulster Unionism should and must defend the British tradition on this island, as it should the protestant tradition on this island and indeed the Orange tradition on this island. It is the reason behind that defence where the distinction with political cultural unionism lies. We should not be defending these traditions primarily because we are representing the community from which they spring, but because we advance the values of a pluralist, multi-national United Kingdom where differing cultures are tolerated and celebrated. We should champion the right to these traditions alongside, and not to the exclusion of others, because that is what our Union and our unionism is about.

Unapologetically I have applied these comments to the road ahead for the Ulster Unionist Party, but they are equally applicable to unionism as a whole. I believe unionists must seek to redefine their beliefs in such a way that Ulster nationalist impulses are no longer recognised under the label unionist. I also firmly believe that tolerance, secularism and pluralism do not enfeeble unionism, but rather they are the forceful dynamic muscle behind the philosophy and indeed the very building blocks of it. Ulster Unionists can be protestant, Orange and identify themselves culturally as British, equally they can be Catholic and culturally identify themselves as Irish, they can be neither and of course they can be any pick n mix combination of religions and cultural identities. It is about time a unionist party refocused unionism on the Union and what it means to the people within it. If that courage and that clarity of vision is provided by unionists, electoral recompense will follow and a leading role in the UK’s constitutional debate awaits.