Its democracy, but not quite as we know it

1 May 03
May 1 was to have been the date when elections occurred in each of the three devolved nations of the United Kingdom Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Except, as is so often the case in the latter, the timetable slipped and the elections will now ta.

02 May 2003

May 1 was to have been the date when elections occurred in each of the three devolved nations of the United Kingdom – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Except, as is so often the case in the latter, the timetable slipped and the elections will now take place in the autumn. Probably.

But the repeated suspension of the Northern Irish Assembly by the UK government and the underlying political deadlock is just one of a variety of differences between the three devolved administrations.

The similarities are obvious. Each has a government, a first minister and a legislative body – called a Parliament in Scotland and an Assembly in Wales and Northern Ireland. No party has had an absolute majority in any of the three administrations. But here the differences in Northern Ireland begin to show.

The absence of collective ministerial responsibility is unique to the Belfast system. At Stormont, ministerial meetings do not bind ministers and their departments. Indeed, the Democratic Unionist Party has refused to allow its two ministers to attend ministerial meetings in protest at Sinn Fein's inclusion in government.

Some ministers have used this system in ways perceived to favour their own tribal followings. Bairbre de Brun, the Sinn Fein health minister, and Nigel Dodds, the DUP social development minister, have both been criticised for allegedly supporting the narrow interests of their own electorates.

This is not to say that Sinn Fein or the DUP are represented by political lightweights. Martin McGuinness has surprised many as a highly competent minister, along with Peter Robinson of the DUP, Mark Durkan and Brid Rodgers of the SDLP and Sir Reg Empey of the Ulster Unionists.

One noticeable similarity between the governance of the three reborn nations is a frustrating willingness to delay decisions by reviewing policy. This has especially annoyed business groups. And it has led in Northern Ireland to the bizarre situation that the suspension of devolution last October resulted in a spurt of key policy decisions, taken by Westminster's direct rule ministers: Ian Pearson, Angela Smith, Des Browne and Jane Kennedy.

True, Martin McGuinness spent his last few minutes as education minister dumping the 11-Plus, taking possibly the most contentious 'ordinary' political decision in Northern Ireland in decades. But a host of other thorny issues were delayed by devolved ministers, apparently happy to buck-pass to Westminster.

In the past few weeks, the Northern Ireland Office quartet have got stuck into large in-trays. The process of introducing water charging has begun; it has been decided that about 500 water services staff will go; the first Northern Ireland public-private partnership has been approved; abolition of the rates system is now under way; and the detail of the highly contentious reorganisation of acute hospital provision has finally been settled.

All were exactly the type of decision that devolution was supposed to localise – difficult, dangerous, but accountable. It is highly symbolic that they were made by Westminster MPs, not by Northern Ireland MLAs (members of the legislative assembly).

The failure of Northern Ireland's politicians to tackle some of the crunch problems – in day-to-day government, just as much as the peace process – appears to have increased voter cynicism. Media 'vox-pops' are now full of people saying they do not care whether Stormont continues.

But, above all, there is one factor that distinguishes Northern Ireland governance. Essentially, Belfast uses a different concept of democracy. While a simple majority is adequate in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Westminster, there must in effect be a majority in both the Catholic and Protestant camps in Stormont for legislation to be passed. It can be argued that this is progressive politics, ensuring that consensus is achieved for everything.

In reality, of course, it is hard to think of any political arena where true consensus is less likely to emerge than in Stormont, where perhaps the most recent heated debate was on whether Easter lilies (symbol of the Republican uprising of 1916) should be displayed in public buildings.

Northern Ireland's political evolution still has a long way to go.


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