Last month, two new laws were passed for Northern Ireland. The laws did not originate in the Assembly; no Northern Irish party won an election with a manifesto proposing them; no referendum was held on them. Instead, Westminster MPs came up with the laws and passed them in July. The first redefines marriage, so that it will no longer be simply between a man and a woman.
The second redefines the legal status of unborn children, permitting them to be killed in the womb. It’s “the beginning of a new era”, tweeted Grainne Teggart of Amnesty International when Westminster’s laws were imposed on Northern Ireland last week. “We can now look forward to a more equal future.”
