Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Empey has described as ‘totally incorrect,’ comments made by former Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain – now Lord Hain – regarding the changes to the Belfast Agreement brought about by the St Andrews Agreement.

Lord Empey said:

“I have been following recent exchanges on Twitter between Lord Hain, former Labour Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Lord Caine, Conservative Peer and special adviser at the Northern Ireland Office.

“In a tweet earlier today Lord Hain said the following '...changes to the Good Friday Agreement were minimal, agreed by all the parties & operated perfectly well for 10 years. DUP and SF dominance only happened in the last Parliamentary elections. Until then SDLP and UUP were still there.'

“Given what Lord Hain has been saying, I feel it necessary to enter this dispute and correct some of the statements made by Peter Hain, which are totally incorrect.

“Firstly, Peter Hain says that the changes to the Good Friday Agreement were MINIMAL and agreed by ALL the parties. He is totally wrong on both counts. The changes to the Belfast Agreement were FUNDAMENTAL and completely altered the dynamics of the core element of the Agreement, which was painstakingly negotiated over many years and endorsed in a referendum by a massive majority. The core element was a partnership at the centre of the new Administration at Stormont, which resulted in the representatives of BOTH sections of our community sharing power and obtaining their positions as First Minister and deputy First Minister in a joint resolution on the floor of the Assembly which had to be passed by a cross community vote, thus giving constitutional and democratic expression to the sharing of power by both main traditions. In other words both traditions had to walk up the aisle together in public to obtain their positions.

“In the St Andrew's Agreement Bill of 2006, this process was abandoned and replaced by the current system. The position of First Minister is to be filled by the largest party, even if the party does not represent the largest designation (ie unionist or nationalist), and the deputy First Minister is to be filled by the next largest party if that party is from a different designation. The Assembly has been removed from the process altogether, so there is no joint resolution and public expression of the partnership.

“The consequence of this change has been to turn all subsequent elections into sectarian head counts, because since the DUP became the largest unionist party, successive Leaders have argued that if they are not the largest party then Sinn Fein will become First Minister! That there is no legal difference between the two posts is conveniently forgotten and the symbolism has been allowed to take over. Look at any DUP manifesto in recent years and you will see this as their biggest card, and Mrs Foster wrote thousands of letters to electors making this point in the last two Assembly Elections as did Ian Paisley before her.

“This change has prevented the development of 'normal politics' as we had hoped for and has trapped us in a time warp which has led to the present impasse and the most incompetent and I would say corrupt administration here since 1921. I cannot remember a time when the community has been so divided.

“Lord Hain stated that the changes were agreed by 'all the parties.' I cannot understand how he can come to such as conclusion. This is not the case. The Ulster Unionist Party has opposed these changes since the time the Bill entered Parliament in 2006; if Lord Hain cares to look at the Hansard of the debate in the House of Lords in November 2006 he will see that the changes he proposed to the Agreement were opposed tooth and nail by Lord Trimble, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats and Lady Hermon, then an Ulster Unionist MP in the House of Commons.

“As a party the Ulster Unionist Party has drawn this to the attention of successive Prime Ministers and Secretaries of State. I went to see David Cameron in Downing Street in August 2010 to plead with him to make changes; Mike Nesbitt drew the same issue to the attention of Theresa May in 2016 when she became Prime Minister. We have made this point to all Secretaries of State and the NIO is well aware of our views. On every opportunity I have had since entering the House of Lords I have raised it and indeed put down amendments to various pieces of Northern Ireland legislation to register my disapproval.

“Only last Tuesday, in response to a statement from the Secretary of State, I drew the House's attention to the damage done by the 2006 changes, so to say that they were agreed by all the parties is without foundation.

“I do not doubt that Lord Hain was trying his best to get Stormont going again in 2006, but perhaps because he was not involved in the negotiations leading up to the Agreement he did not appreciate the significance of the changes. That cannot be said however about Ian Paisley or Martin McGuinness. The changes removed a hurdle for Ian Paisley, in that he would not have to vote in a joint resolution for himself and Martin McGuinness on the floor of the Assembly - something he would have found difficult; and Martin McGuinness could not have been vetoed by unionist MLAs should they have decided to oppose him as deputy First Minister.

“The communique following St Andrews was issued on behalf of both Governments and not the parties and only AFTER St Andrews, with the publication of the Bill, did we learn of the proposed changes to the Agreement. At no time was my party consulted about these changes. I cannot understand why Lord Hain is suggesting that is was only at the last Parliamentary Elections that this affected the Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and indeed Alliance. The centre parties have been under relentless pressure since 2007. I suggest Lord Hain looks at party manifestos and press coverage on some of our recent elections so that he can get a flavour of the type of campaigning that has gone on.

“In essence, Lord Caine is right in what he is saying and whatever the motivation, the 2006 changes have recast the politics of Northern Ireland for over a decade and sadly not for the better.”