In a powerful address to Parliament, Alliance Party MP Sorcha Eastwood exposes the systemic flaws crippling Northern Ireland’s governance. Stormont’s political institutions, designed to ensure power-sharing, have become a cycle of dysfunction—40% of their lifespan has been spent in collapse due to one-party vetoes. Eastwood argues that the current system, rooted in rigid binary divisions, no longer reflects Northern Ireland’s diverse society (40% now identify as neither exclusively British nor Irish) and undermines progress on healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
She demands urgent reform:
Ending veto powers that let single parties collapse the Executive.
Modernizing the Good Friday Agreement to reflect societal diversity.
Westminster intervention to stabilize governance, citing precedents like marriage equality laws.
Despite the Prime Minister’s “business as usual” response, Eastwood insists the UK government must act as co-guarantor of peace—or risk perpetual decay.
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Credit: Parliament TV
29 Comments
The one and only Brexit benefit might well be the unification of Ireland. I very much welcome this.
Typical Starmer stage response by Starmer anythother cluess answer by Starmer
Northern Ireland has been dying since partition in 1922 against the will of the Irish people .
Are the DUP ever happy about anything? Like Reform, all they ever seem to do is whinge.
So Max. Can that change be done without Westminster? Westminster totally didn't 'consult' NI during Brexit, so conversely speaking, I'm sure there's a way ….. but I wouldn't know it. They kept NI out in the cold. If you throw the UK's anxiety in the pot about a trade deal with the US, that would be impossible because NI is part of the EU when it comes to trade, so only a deal with GB is possible. The DUP will make sure of that. I'm sure there will be ears keen on that approach. Ideal time for Westminster to get rid of NI.
It’s a difficult situation for sure. Independence and the level of independence from the UK is so varied across NI it would be years before a consensus could be reached and that’s without any interference from Westminster. I would love to see a united Ireland in my lifetime with NI recognised as its own state but there’s such a schism in Northern Ireland itself as to how and what that would look like that I doubt even if we won a referendum that it would actually happen. We should have a referendum because I think the threat of losing Northern Ireland would force Westminster to address these problems.
About time the Brits have come to realise that the North is the North of Ireland…A reunified Ireland is what want…
Stamer ..get the F off the fence…Ireland is an entity …end of story
Trouble with changing the Good Friday Agreement (if it can be done at all) is that ,from the UK Government's point of view, is that it would set a (possibly dangerous precedent. If you change it to accommodate one Party, then it becomes virtually impossible to say "No" down the line when another Party comes along and demands it's changed to suit them.
In a "normal" political set up, it's fine, but when the Party's in NI deliberately seek to only advance the interests of their faction to the detriment of others, it won't work.
Trump would solve it by moving out the Catholics and making the north a massive golf resort for oligarchs
Tice and farage with blank faces watching a politician who actually gives a shite about the people.
The abuse and threats made to Sorcha and everyone at Alliance is disgusting.
Brexit and yoons delivering Irish reunification is wonderful.
I come from N Ireland and it seems to me that the unionists politicians are a gift to those who want to see the end of the union. A gift that just keeps giving.
A big reason why none of the major UK parties have any interest in Northern Ireland is because nothing they do translates into votes for them, since everybody in Northern Ireland votes for local parties. It actually would serve their interests for Northern Ireland to leave the UK as it would give them a bigger share of the overall vote and diminish the power of the SNP and Plaid Cymru in Scotland and Wales, where they still at least are able to win votes.
There's nothing new here. The UK government has been complicit in the marginalisation of the nationalist community since the foundation of Northern Ireland!
Maybe there should be more of a campaign to prevent the dup from being the biggest or second biggest party. But apparently there is still a large amount of people in Northern Ireland that are happy with the dup's antics. Enough so that they don't care about the government not providing the services they're hired to provide.
Remember when Stomount buggered off for like 4 years and the country just kinda….kept functioning regardless?
Its almost like these people dont actually serve any purpose except their own.
Alliance is a sister party of the LibDems. They register as ‘non-aligned’ (neither Republican or Loyalist). However, it will be interesting to see their stance when a border poll is finally called. Perhaps it will be like a ‘free vote’ for members to decide individually.
Here is the problem with your suggestion the reason for the binary set up as you put it was because from northern irelands inception it had always been designed with one community in mind unionism and nationslism subservant in every way included been excluder from the original stormont the famous mantra been a unionist government for a unionist people only. GFA removed that to ensure both communuties are equal in governmeny unlike the previous versions of stormont. As someone living here in NI do i agree with the veto no but do i want to see a return to the past where stormont to use another famous mantra was a cold house to catholics/nationalists and we ended ul been excluded because unionism grouped together to ensure nationalists were not in government but again subservant to and under the unionist jack boot no i dont. The current system is imperfect but it at least guarantees my community a seat at the table and a voice something that never exsisted from NIs creation to GFA
The 6 county & 26 county states has been a nightmare for the Irish people and will hopefully be overthrown by a Sovereign 32 county Socialist republic that they were created to crush or another century of Fascism, oppression, division, war and pain for the peoples on our island or even worse another 858 years of brutal colonialism!!!
If Russia doesnt belong in Ukraine then Britain doesn't belong in Ireland, by their own logic!!
Been waiting a long time on a united Ireland. The sooner we can all put Northern Ireland behind us the better
Oh Jesus, I found that hard to watch with Farage and co pouting,🇮🇪🇪🇺
Northern Ireland is now a failed state. The sad thing is that had it been established on the basis of equality for all it could have been made to work. That’s all in the past now.
She is correct.
HOWEVER, the main beneficiaries of this "…rigid binary divisions…" are, obviously, the two parties in government, the Democratic Unionist Party(DUP), and Sinn Féin(SF).
It is equally obvious that they are the two players LEAST LIKELY to approve any changes.
I think the only reason England ever wanted northern Ireland was out of spite for Ireland leaving the Union. Same as them robbing other countries of there treasures when the rebelled against them. It was more an act of punishment that has backfired on them as they dont want it but cannot give it back easily either.
Well Max, the Tories and Labour in Scotland regularly act against the interests of Scotland 🏴🇪🇺🏴🇪🇺
End the veto ? Is She suggesting Northern Ireland returns to majority rule ?? And still Sorcha & Robespierre demonstrate their inability to understand that the Good friday agreement instituions are designed to create a united Ireland because there is no partitionist 'northern ireland' solution to these problems. If people want normal politics and normal governance they must fully integrate into a state. Full integration into The U.K state was removed by the British government as an option in the 1920 Government of Ireland Act and so the only remaining state for northern ireland to integrate into is an An Island State! The inability of the Alliance party to understand these fundamentals of politics in their home exasperates me!!
You are seeking a solution that misunderstands Norrthern Ireland as a State. It is not. Two states exist in these Islands; the U.K state and the Irish state. Northern must fully integrate into the latter in order to acquire normal governance and politics for it's people.
As Northern Ireland becomes a more pluralist society with large numbers of minorities who have arrived here, desiring to create a new life for themselves in a British mileau, the fading aspirations of outmoded Irish republicanism has no attraction. Sadly, the romantic notions of old school idealogy cling on to its historical mythology of a united island. Why on earth would any people surrender their democratic self-determination and subject themselves to the tyrannical whims of a population that care little for their well-being? Bonkers!
No one in the uk gives a *ucking toss about NI!