SoSaturnistic: the new Independent Unionist can no longer be ignored

an editorial by SoSaturnistic

The return of u/Greejatus, a former DUP MP for Northern Ireland and now a current Cabinet Minister in the British Government, may bode unwell for the future at our Assembly. A Libertarian Party member at Westminster, this individual has chosen to shed his ‘Irish Libertarian Party’ affiliation at Stormont and contest elections as an ‘Independent Unionist’.

As a former ‘Independent Nationalist’ at Stormont I can only wish people who want to bring a new voice and perspective to the Assembly the best of luck. It is a difficult road and one which is often lonely. It is an important role though. With most parties within the Executive and a dormant select committee system, figures like u/BabyYodaVEVO and u/SomeBritishDude26 have brought important issues to the fore of the Executive on such issues from poverty to transport. With this said, being an independent or outside voice does not give one licence to pursue divisive, dishonest, and frankly reactionary politics.

It is this concern, of division and dishonesty, which compels me to come forward on this issue. u/Greejatus ‘officially’ stated his intention to contest the coming election to the Assembly with a litany of lies and falsehoods. He portrayed a point of view that water services ought to be kept in public hands, an opinion long held by his DUP forerunners, as being some sort of ‘attack’ against the British Government. He condemned MLAs who voted against the recent ‘Transparency Bill’ as self-serving and implied they were corrupt, when in fact many (including myself) did so because the bill essentially makes no change to transparency arrangements and in fact muddles and weakens them. Bizarrely, he even claimed that a bill which made provision for means tested breakfasts and offered support for pupil nutrition during the summer holiday was a waste because it supposedly ‘removed’ means testing, even though no such thing occurred.

Yet aside from this rank opening, u/Greejatus has put out toxic and false claims in his own right at Stormont, wasting the time of the Assembly on matters which do not benefit people at best and actively demean and discriminate against others at worst. We saw a motion on policing which makes claims which are fundamentally untrue according to PSNI data. In the debate he branded even the UUP as being agents of the ‘far left’ when members of the Executive stepped forward to correct this matter. Most recently came a bill about theatre, where this Independent Unionist drafted legislation to rename the ‘National Theatre’ to the ‘Royal Theatre’ as it would supposedly enhance the position of unionists—despite like institutions being named as such in England, Scotland, and Wales. Most disappointingly though, were the clauses which would explicitly prohibit the premier theatrical institution in the North from co-operating with cultural and theatrical institutions in the South, a move which would cut artists and people off from each other for no reason, weakening a fledgling creative sector and promoting social division and exclusion on our island. And yet this is apparently only the beginning of this deluge, with a new bill to repeal teaching incentives for the Irish language (whilst simultaneously enhancing the status of Ulster Scots in another).

Even the most charitable reading of this record will see this as discriminatory and contrary to the principle of parity of esteem between people and communities, a principle enshrined within the Good Friday Agreement. It doesn’t help that before his foray into Assembly politics, u/Greejatus had pushed legislation, contrary to the manifesto he was elected upon, at Westminster that would have expanded the religious divide in our schools by repealing anti-discrimination measures for admissions, among other changes. It is clear that this is a man who enjoys on stoking divisions and demeaning nationalists as a hobby, calling back to an era which no long exists.

Leaving aside this, in every criticism of the Executive he has laid out u/Greejatus has done so with immense dishonesty. Constantly mis-representing or insulting anyone who dares to disagree or push back against his claims and ideas, this individual has comported himself in such a way which brings disrepute to himself. It is a brand of politics he has unfortunately decided to take on without apparent consequence from his party at Westminster or from the Government in which he serves at the Cabinet table.

The Irish Libertarian Party launched nearly one year ago with the aim of reaching across communities and promoting harmony. That the first Libertarian to get seriously involved in the Assembly in some time has abandoned this path is telling, and it certainly isn’t good for the future ahead.