Two big
decisions for the New Year: I have decided to leave the Labour Party and join
the Green Party. I'm also winding up East Belfast Diary.
I have been
involved with the Labour Party on and off throughout my adult life, including
four years as a local councillor. Since moving to Northern Ireland, thirteen
years ago, I have spent around eight years in either the Irish or British
Labour Parties helping to campaign for Labour to be allowed to stand for
election here. But the flags protests last month have finally made me realise
that there is absolutely no point in being in a party that doesn't have any
political power.
It’s no
secret that I've felt sympathetic towards Green policies for some time. And I have
become increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of negotiations about Labour
and elections. It seems pretty clear to me that senior Labour figures are having none of it and that the party in England remains tied to the SDLP. I gather the
NEC will make a decision later this month, however I've got to the point where
I no longer want to be a member of a party that is so reluctant to have me as a
member and clearly considers me to be a nuisance rather than an asset.
Labour in
London doesn't understand the need for new politics in Northern Ireland. They continue
to support a divided political system based on sharing out power between two
‘communities’, which has been a necessary stage but the time is overdue for
change. Much of what I’ve written on East Belfast Diary over the past few years
has been about decoupling sectarian and political identities so that Northern
Ireland politics can begin to be based on different views on economic and
social policies rather than on tribal allegiance. It’s time for me to join a
party that is a full part of this new approach. Stephen Agnew’s speech as part
of the Assembly debate on the flags protests set out what politics in Northern
Ireland could look like so much more convincingly than Ed Miliband has been
able to do with his fixation on being an ‘honest broker’.
The move is
also an opportunity to pull the plug on East Belfast Diary. Although I do write
about other things, the blog has been closely connected to Labour politics so
it doesn't feel right to continue. I may start a new blog at some point in the
future, but for now, it’s time to sign off.