British Government must put Agreement first

Now that the governments have announced a schedule for intensive talks in September, the British Government has a clear-cut choice.

It can stand with the Good Friday Agreement and build a bridge towards democracy and equality, or it can side with the forces of reaction and the agenda of securocrats within the NIO, as successive British Governments did for decades

The challenge is for Tony Blair to get his system on board the Good Friday Agreement. So far, he has failed to do this.

Tony Blair has said if the process isn't going forward it will go backwards. Elements within his own system, particularly within the NIO, are doing their best to subvert progress and to encourage the backward slide.

If British policy is the Good Friday Agreement, then the two governments have to have a common strategy to bring it about.

However, the 26-County Government wants an inquiry into Pat Finucane's killing but the British Government, despite saying that it would do so, has refused to establish an inquiry.

London's refusal to deal properly with the issue of collusion is of particular significance. The British Government's handling of the Human Rights Commission and equality issues also goes to the heart of this issue and in many ways is the clearest example of what the appeasement of unionism has led to.

What have all these issues in common? They are all managed by unionists, and in some cases, securocrats.

Progress in September requires the British Government to choose the Agreement over the agenda of securocrats within the NIO.