A welcome reset in Anglo-Irish relations

What a difference a new leader can make. No, not that one – I think we have all probably heard plenty for now about the difference he’s making to the world we thought we lived in.

Step forward instead Sir Keir Starmer. Without doubt he has had a busy and important few weeks on the international stage, but he is also having an impact worth remarking on in a more local context.

Anglo-Irish relations needed a reset, and they have got one. In an uncertain and difficult world, the summit last week between the UK and Ireland was something of a beacon. Whether or not that would seem at first glance to be big news, we should mark it as a win. And since we could do with more good news on the international front, let’s make sure to celebrate any of it that comes along.

The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister held a private dinner in Liverpool last week before being joined the following day by a collection of their senior ministers. They discussed a range of topics in a friendly spirit. The ‘mood music’, a term they use about these kinds of events, was excellent.

The summit agreed a programme of co-operation which both sides described as "the most extensive policy engagement between the UK government and the Government of Ireland in a generation". The full communique issued after the summit set out a range of issues the two governments would work on, including energy security, offshore wind, cyber security and trade. These are all issues where we have common interests, and similar challenges.

Some suggested that what was actually agreed didn’t amount to an awful lot. But how detailed any of that co-operation is right now, or how substantive it might become, is in many ways neither here nor there. What matters is that the summit happened, and that it took place in such a cordial atmosphere.

To illustrate that, it was the opening section of the communique that caught my eye. It stated that the relationship between our two countries is ‘informed by our co-guarantorship of the Good Friday Agreement’. And? What about it? That is surely only a simple statement of fact. We are both joint guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. We all know that.

Why does that matter? Why did that phrase jump out? It matters because the last ten years has been so difficult. The trouble in our recent relations all started with Brexit and centred on the border with Northern Ireland. Ever since 2016, the fault lines along that border that Brexit exposed created nothing but problems. And from those problems arose an increasingly unsettling distance between our governments.

Can you recall how unlikely a joint statement – informed by our co-guarantorship of the Good Friday Agreement – would have been in the days of Boris Johnson as British Prime Minister? Can you remember how he and his fellow Brexiteers railed against our concerns? And how the language unleashed during that time would make you shake your head? How we watched in astonishment as a deal the British Prime Minister had committed to was reneged on, not overtly, but by denying it was what it was? I think we can all remember that, and we can probably remember our own reaction too. The British bulldog on full display does not bring out the best in us.

Even after the Windsor Framework patched up some of the damage that was caused, and relations improved a bit, the strains still showed. It had taken such a long time to get to a workable arrangement that the warmth had largely evaporated.

But that sense of chilliness in our relations has been dissipating ever since the election of the Labour government last year. And there’s no doubt that our two countries have found it easier to bridge the distance that had arisen between us because of the particular personality and interests of Sir Keir Starmer. He ‘gets’ Ireland. That comes not only from his political background but also his personal connections with this country. It shows too, I guess, what a change in political leadership can bring, and is a timely and welcome reminder that it can work for good rather than the other way round.

Of course, it is not just Sir Keir’s personality and focus that has helped relations. The appointment of Hilary Benn MP as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has certainly contributed to that too. His steady and measured hand has removed the need for potentially inflammatory and unhelpful language in day-to-day politics. In Northern Ireland, that is always a positive, though in fairness it should be acknowledged that his Tory predecessor, the Brexiteer Chris Heaton-Harris, did a good job in that respect too. It surely also helped the mood that last week’s summit was the first meeting between the two governments where Northern Ireland was not a hot topic. That the parties which are governing together there have just published a Programme for Government is a big help.

But on the wider plane, whether that be on the Legacy Act or the Rwanda plan, the change in tack by the Labour government has removed lingering sources of tensions between our two countries. And while I appreciate that some will feel aggrieved about how clearly ‘pro-Union’ Keir Starmer is, and disappointed that the British Prime Minister has not set out to reverse Brexit, we should be very glad and supportive of the fact that he has helped to restore civility to relations with us. Some will be dissatisfied at Hilary Benn effectively ruling out a referendum on a United Ireland, but one can hope that they might see that reducing tensions within the unionist community will make sense as the Windsor Framework is rolled out.

All that bad feeling which was so unhelpful can hopefully be put behind us. While the UK will not rejoin the EU, the British government will stabilise and even enhance relations between both sides. That is absolutely in Ireland’s interest, not least because of the new and wider international situation we find ourselves in. That situation is so changed and so volatile, and has the potential to have such a damaging impact on us, that Ireland needs to repair and enhance relations wherever we can. We are entering really choppy waters now that go to the heart of our political and economic model. These are very serious times and the challenges are enormous. Friends are always helpful in challenging times like this. And a British government led by Sir Keir Starmer is a friend to Ireland.

Speaking of friends or otherwise, the Taoiseach’s job in Washington this week will be a little harder than that summit last week in Liverpool. Over dinner, Sir Keir Starmer may well have given Micheál Martin some tips on how to handle what awaits him in the White House. As he embarks on that mission, however you voted in our own election, wish him well.