Sir, – The Labour Party in Northern Ireland (LPNI) did not defy Labour’s election ban in 2016 (Newton Emerson, “Politics in Northern Ireland is tricky, as Britain’s Labour Party will soon see”, Opinion & Analysis, August 3rd). What happened was that an ad hoc group of activists, calling themselves the Northern Ireland Labour Representation Committee (NILRC), decided to run candidates in that election. The LPNI Executive Committee had no prior knowledge of this and condemned the action when it became public, as did the Labour Party National Executive Committee. That may help explain the poor result.
In any case, as Labour’s last NEC Review report (2016-19) makes clear, in discussing the prospects of electoral success for Labour: “the Labour Party already stands candidates in many ‘unwinnable’ areas in England, Scotland and Wales, so the unlikelihood of electoral success in itself is not an argument for continuing to not stand candidates”.
We believe that, with proper commitment, Labour could be surprisingly successful.
Labour Party candidates, who will designate as “Other”, would provide a fresh opportunity for people from all sides of the community to unite behind a left of centre agenda focused on the most pressing day to day issues. This opportunity has been denied us for too long.
A successful cross-community Labour movement offers the best prospect for achieving reconciliation here, something that has very much eluded us so far. – Yours, etc,
BOYD BLACK,
Secretary,
Labour Party
in Northern Ireland,
Belfast.