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| A LABOUR LANDSLIDE What will Tony Blair's government mean for the UK? May 6, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:
What is Tony Blair's mandate? What is Labour's agenda? What does this election do for the Liberal Democratic Party? Will the Labour Party break into factions? What will the election mean for the Irish peace process?
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May 2, 1997:
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A question from Mark Collins of Boston, Massachusetts: What affect, if any, will the election of the Labour government have on the Irish peace negotiations? And how will the bomb threats that plagued the final weeks of the election campaign affect the situation?
Tom Rhodes of The Times responds:
The Irish question remains, as has so often been the case, the constant thorn in the side of any British government. The hopes of a peace settlement have steadily dwindled in the wake of President Clinton's visit in 1995. The bombing campaign during the election can only have given little solace to the incoming administration. Tony Blair, unlike his predecessor, is no longer reliant on the Ulster Unionist vote. But this does not mean he will bend to the will of Sinn Fein without first gaining the requisite ceasefire for all party talks on a peace settlement.
Mary Dejevsky of The Independent responds:
The Labour government has two advantages: it did not lead (though it did associate itself with) Major's peace talks, it is also seen by Republican opinion in Northern Ireland as less hostile than the Tories, whose party is allied to the Unionist in Northern Ireland. The change of government also allows the IRA to claim a new beginning and perhaps renew its ceasefire without the loss of face that would have been involved in renewing the ceasefire with the Tory government.
All that being said, if and when the peace process is re-launched, the same problems - of linking a renunciation of violence to participation in talks, and irrefutable fact that the nationalists are a minority in the North - means that the same problems will arise.
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