Yesterday morning we submitted a petition to the Business Office of the Assembly to call-in a decision by the Economy Minister to instruct officials in relation to arms sales, including not to engage with UK trade talks with Israel. That followed an Urgent Oral Question submitted on Thursday, immediately after the Economy Minister’s statement.
It should come as no surprise to anyone, and least of all to any Sinn Fein Minister, that we will continue to defend the safeguard introduced at St Andrews, that any significant, controversial or cross-cutting decision is not to be taken unilaterally by one Minister, but is to be brought to the Executive as a whole for discussion and decision.
The local Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space industries directly employ 9,000 people in Northern Ireland and last year had a turnover of £2.2billion. This is a major sector of our economy, yet the Economy Minister would be happy to undermine those companies and the people they employ to pander to the most extreme anti-Israeli voices in our society.
Such hostility to Israel is not just contained to Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, we live in a United Kingdom where Israeli fans are currently set to be banned from attending a football match in the UK’s second largest city because police cannot guarantee their safety. That such a decision might be felt necessary at any time is deeply worrying, but coming only a few weeks after the antisemitic murder of Jewish people gathering to worship in Manchester, is chilling.
I hope the Prime Minister and others are successful in securing circumstances where this decision might be overturned. The law should protect people, and the law must be upheld, whether that is in Birmingham or in Belfast. Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive are required to abide by the law – and that includes on decisions being brought to the Executive. We will continue to ensure that is the case.
