The Labour Party’s decisive victory in the UK general election sets the scene for a serious upgrading of British-Irish relations after they deteriorated so badly under the previous Conservative governments. A flurry of calls between Irish political leaders and their newly appointed British counterparts has signalled their mutual intention to reset the relationship urgently, with ambition, on the basis of regular engagement and with a strong and visible joint approach. This is a really welcome sign that both sides recognise that change is necessary.
From the Irish point of view there are many reasons to seek improved relations with the new British government. There were genuine and initially successful efforts to develop bilateral links under David Cameron’s premiership after 2010, even though the overall commitment to use the joint institutions agreed in the1998 Belfast Agreement appeared to weaken with the Conservatives. Cameron’s decision to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, and then the dramatic Brexit vote in 2016, shattered any such progress.
Joint Irish and UK membership of the EU had made them more multilateral and mutually advantageous in this wider setting over four decades. Subtracting that reciprocity radically set them back, and for the worse. In key areas such as managing trade – including in Northern Ireland – and migration policy, tensions became the order of the day.
The incoming Labour government, led by Keir Starmer, certainly recognises and is committed to resetting official relations with the Irish Government and also wants to work jointly with Dublin on strengthening power-sharing in Northern Ireland and making the North-South and East-West institutions agreed in 1998 more effective. Many leading figures in the new government have a deep knowledge of Irish affairs. They know how damaging Brexit has been and expect their pledges to scrap the Legacy Act and to seek a veterinary and food agreement with Brussels will ease difficulties over the Windsor Framework.
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So the stage is set for closer ties between the two governments, and also an improvement in their respective relations with the UK’s devolved authorities. Such considerations will feed into the Labour government’s engagement with unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland too. So will Labour’s economic difficulties inherited from the Conservatives, together with their fiscal caution. Both will make it more difficult to deliver on expectations for rapid improvements in public services across the UK.
Labour will also have Irish support as it seeks more constructive relations with the EU, economically, politically and in security and defence. This, too, provides an important backdrop to hopes for a marked improvement in Anglo-Irish relations.
