This is a welcome Bill and our thanks go to Sinn Féin for bringing it forward for discussion. It is not just a timely opportunity for the House to discuss the fundamental issue of Irish unity, but a chance for us and the Government to finally get serious on the important work of preparing for constitutional change. It has been clear for some years that not moving forward with urgency just will not cut it. There is a job of work to be done and this Bill sets out a path for beginning to get that work under way. A Green Paper, a constitutional convention and proper cross-community consultation, North and South, are all steps we in the Labour Party have repeatedly called for over recent years, as it has become increasingly clear that this conversation is happening with or without the Government taking the lead. The decade since Brexit has seen the question of unity moving up the public agenda. That is a reality that has perhaps ebbed and flowed over those years, but it is crystal-clear that it is not going away. In May, an Amárach poll from European Movement Ireland indicated that if a referendum on a united Ireland was held tomorrow in the EU, 59% in the Republic would vote in favour and 22% against, with 62% in favour in the North and 29% against. The prospect of a Nigel Farage-led government in London after the next UK general election, today's theatrics notwithstanding, would shift the parameters yet again. We have heard calls to simply ignore the issue. Last year, the UK Secretary of State told us there was no appetite for constitutional change in Northern Ireland, but putting our heads in the sand is simply not an option. We need our Government to take the lead on these discussions and to be the responsible broker needed for the necessary preparations to take place. It is time for the difficult work of preparing for unity to begin in earnest. We have seen the perils of running a referendum hastily. To proceed without the hard work of planning and debate would be deeply misguided. That is precisely why it is so important that we begin the process now of preparing for a united Ireland. We need a clear timetable to allow for the development of green and white papers, to allow the work of citizens' assemblies to take place and to allow for the conversations and debates that need to happen across our island. The measures in the Bill are to be very much welcomed as common sense steps towards a responsible and structured process of preparation. It almost goes without saying that what is in play in this debate is not taken lightly. The deep questions that are in play when it comes to constitutional change get to the very heart of who we are as a people, how we want to live and what shape our country and society will take. These questions are, of course, shaped by history, deeply held identities and people's lived experience over the last century, North and South. We should always be sensitive and understanding to those realities. These are profoundly forward-looking questions of the future. The conversation about Irish unity cannot be some hide-bound debate about an Ireland of the last century. It must be focused on a new Ireland that is not just united but is equal and fair for all its citizens. We all know the Ireland of 2026, North and South, has changed deeply from that of 1998. It is a vastly more diverse and more pluralist society. It is larger in population terms, with larger economies, North and South. It is more engaged and intertwined with the rest of the world. In many ways, it is a less equal society, with regional inequality growing significantly, North and South, since the Agreement. As our economies have grown, too many of our citizens have continually been left behind. That is not an experience unique to this island over the past number of decades, but we have a unique opportunity to correct our course with the opportunities of a new Ireland. There needs to be a conversation about how best we build a real republic across the island, not just built on the values of equality and pluralism but acting on those values and seeing them through in a way that delivers ordinary people. The Ireland of 2026 is no longer one of the orange and green. It is home to mixed identities across these islands and beyond, identities that would have seemed unimaginable only a couple of generations ago. I believe that is something to be celebrated and protected, not just from those who would pull us backwards to a regressive and narrow vision of Irishness or Britishness, but from the risks that an unprepared and rushed unity debate would pose to that pluralist Ireland. As we progress towards unity, we cannot allow ourselves to be drawn back to the lazy destructive binaries of the past. Crucially, we can never return to the normalised violence of the last century. Moving, removing or maintaining any border on this island can never come at the price of a human life. We in the Labour Party want a new united Ireland and we are unapologetic about that, but, vitally, we want to see real, deep and difficult preparatory work get under way. The conversation is happening. To ignore it now is irresponsible and impossible. The Government, as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, has to play a leading role in this. The welcome work of the Taoiseach's shared island unit has been positive, but the time has come for more substantial preparations for change. This Bill, calling for a citizens' assembly and a Green Paper, sets out a roadmap for preparation that we can all support. I urge the Government to rethink its position and back it.

Sentiment score: 0.21