February 15, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jack Holland
The joint referenda to be held this week is all very well, embracing as it does North and South. Yet, it leaves out one key player in the Northern Ireland situation: the British.
No one has suggested that they be polled as to their views on the Belfast Agreement. This is grossly unfair, since it is the British taxpayer who is helping to pay for the whole settlement. The British prime minister, Tony Blair, just announced a $500 million aid package for Northern Ireland, the bulk of which comes out of the Exchequer.
It is not hard to understand why the British people have been left out of this. No British government has ever dared to take a poll among its constituents in England, Scotland and Wales on its policy in relation to Northern Ireland. This is partly to do with the fact that it is only rarely that the British government has had an identifiable, consistent policy about which meaningful comment might be requested. But governmental reluctance to invite comment has much more to do with the politicians’ fears that the only question the British people would like to be asked about Northern Ireland is,