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These documents were scanned, collated and catalogued by Ruth Murray, Annabel Harris, Isha Pareek, Eleanor Williams, Antoine Yenk, Harriet Carter, Oliver Nicholls, Kieran Wetherwick, and Cerys Griffiths.
[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"DRAFT STATEMENT"},{"insert":"\n\n1. I should like to explain the British Government's position on the constitutional issues in respect of Northern Ireland.\n\n2. We confirm our wish, and commitment to ensure, that Northern Ireland should remain in the United Kingdom unless and until that might cease to be the wish of a majority of its people, and that it would be wrong to change that status without the consent of such a majority.\n\n3. Nonetheless, the British Government affirms that it has no selfish strategic or economic interest in retaining Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom against the wishes of its people; that its primary interest is to see peace, stability and reconciliation established by agreement among all the people who inhabit the island; and that it will work with the Irish Government to achieve such an agreement which will embrace the totality of relationships, and lead to the establishment of arrangements and institutions which reflect the principles of equality of opportunity, equity of treatment and parity of esteem and hence attract the support and assent of all their people.\n\n4. At the same time, the British Government:\n\n(i) acknowledges that the people living in Ireland, North and South, should be free, without coercion or violence, to determine their own future;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(ii) confirms in particular that the future status of Northern Ireland should only be determined on the basis of concurrent consent, North and South, of the people living in Ireland;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(iii) accepts and acknowledges accordingly that if, but only if, a majority in each part of Ireland freely expressed the wish that there should be a united Ireland then this should come about;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(iv) confirms, in particular, that if, in the future, a majority of the people of Northern Ireland clearly wish for and formally consent to the establishment of a united Ireland, it will introduce and support legislation to give effect to that wish;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(v) confirms its wish to see agreement reached between the people of the island of Ireland, North and South, on arrangements, structures or institutions to which all the people living in Ireland could give assent and support;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(vi) confirms that such arrangements, structures or institutions may, if so empowered by the relevant Parliaments, take the form of agreed structures for the island as a whole;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(vii) acknowledges, accordingly, a binding obligation to work to implement without impediment any measure of agreement on future relationships in the island of Ireland, whether of this character or any other, which the people living in the North and South respectively may themselves freely determine and consent to;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"and accordingly hereby agrees that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone to exercise such rights of self-determination on the basis of freely and concurrently given consent, North and South.\n\n5. The British Government acknowledges that a substantial minority of the people of Northern Ireland wish for a united Ireland; accepts that they have the right to pursue that aspiration from a basis of parity of esteem, by peaceful and democratic means and without impediment; but believes that relations on the island of Ireland, and between the two islands, would be enhanced if the purported claim as of right to Northern Ireland in the Irish Constitution were amended to reflect the principle enunciated by or on behalf of the Irish Government, for example in the Brussels Joint Statement of 29 October 1993, that any political settlement must depend on consent freely given in the absence of force or intimidation.\n\n6. The British Government believes that the people of Britain would wish, in friendship to them, to encourage the people of the island of Ireland, North and South, to reach agreement on how they may live in concord, harmony and partnership, showing respect for their diverse traditions and fully recognising the special links and the unique relationship which exist between the people of Britain and Ireland. The British Government will seek, consistently with the foregoing, to assist and enable such a process over a period of dialogue and co-operation based on full respect for the rights and identities of both traditions in Ireland.\n\n*Reseve language*\n\n4. In confirming its wish, and its commitment to ensure, that Northern Ireland should remain in the United Kingdom unless and until that might cease to be the wish of a majority of its people, and that it would be wrong to change that status without the consent of such a majority, the British Government affirms nonetheless that it would have no selfish strategic or economic interest in retaining Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom against the wishes of its people; that its primary interest is to see peace, stability and reconciliation established by agreement among all the people who inhabit the island; and that it will work together with the Irish Government to achieve such an agreement, which will embrace the totality of relationships. At the same time, the British Government:\n\n(i) confirms that the future status of Northern Ireland should only be determined on the basis of concurrent consent, North and South, of the people living in Ireland;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(ii) accepts and acknowledges accordingly that if, but only if, a majority in each part of Ireland freely expressed the wish that there should be a united Ireland then this should come about;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(iii) confirms its wish to see agreement reached between the people of the island of Ireland, North and South, on arrangements, structures or institutions to which all the people living in Ireland could give assent and support;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(iv) confirms that such arrangements, structures or institutions may if so empowered by the relevant Parliaments take the form of agreed independent structures for the island as a whole;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(v) confirms, in particular, that if, in the future, a majority of the people of Northern Ireland clearly wish for and formally consent to the establishment of a united Ireland, it will introduce and support legislation to give effect to that wish;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"(vi) acknowledges, accordingly, a binding obligation to work to implement without impediment any measure of agreement on future relationships in Ireland whether of this character or any other which the people living in the North and South respectively may themselves freely determine and consent to;"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":"and accordingly hereby acknowledges the legitimacy of claims to rights of self-determination made by the people of the island of Ireland, North and South. The British Government believes that the people of Britain would wish, in friendship to them, to encourage the people of the island of Ireland, North and South, to reach agreement on how they may live in concord, harmony and partnership, showing respect for their diverse traditions and fully recognising the special links and the unique relationship which exists between the people of Britain and Ireland. The British Government will seek, consistently with the foregoing, to assist and enable such a process over a period of dialogue and co-operation based on full respect for the rights and identities of both traditions in Ireland.\n\n"}]
Explore Groupings
Grouping Name
CJ 4/8792
157
271988 - 2023
CJ 4/10648
157
381993 - 1993
CJ 4/9296
157
55101 - 1991
CJ 4/10484
157
641993 - 2020
CJ 4/10647
157
261993 - 1993
CJ 4/10560
157
571993 - 1993
CJ 4/10562
157
591993 - 1993
CJ 4/10572
157
511993 - 1993
CJ 4/10894
157
181993 - 1993
CJ 4/10946
157
241993 - 1994
CJ 4/10947
157
411993 - 1994
CJ 4/10972
157
321993 - 1994
CJ 4/11016
157
72101 - 1994
CJ 4/9243
157
8101 - 1990
CJ 4/10957
157
76101 - 1994
CJ 4/11312
157
11994
CJ 4/10482
157
60101 - 1994
CJ 4/10649
157
651993 - 2023
CJ 4/10650
157
37101 - 1993
CJ 4/10487
157
54101 - 1993
CJ 4/10651
157
32101 - 1993
CJ 4/10483
157
771993 - 1993
PREM 19/4255
158
58101 - 2018
CJ 4/10486
157
491993 - 1997
PREM 19/3823
158
61101 - 1992
PREM 19/3405
158
38101 - 1991
PREM 19/4254
158
481992 - 1993
PREM 19/4264
158
134101 - ?-??
PREM 19/4263/1
158
59101 - 2023
PREM 19/4263/2
158
84101 - 1993
CJ 4/9297
157
64101 - 1991
CJ 4: Home Office and Northern Ireland Office: Registered Files (NI Series)
44
PREM 19: Records of the Prime Minister's Office: Correspondence and Papers, 1979-1997
11
CJ 4/12313
157
311996 - 1996
CJ 4/12427/1
157
611996 - 1996
PREM 19/5711
158
491996 - 1996
CJ 4/12308
157
201996 - 1997
CJ 4/12309
157
321996 - 1996
PREM 19/5712
158
481996 - 1996
CJ 4/12261
157
741996 - None
CJ 4/12225 [Extract]
157
41996 - 1996
CJ 4/12230
157
331996 - 1996
CJ 4/12231
157
301996 - 1996
CJ 4/12232
157
71996 - 1996
CJ 4/12242
157
241996 - 1996
CJ 4/12250
157
91996 - 1996
CJ 4/12260
157
591996 - 1996
CJ 4/12319
157
601996 - 1996
CJ 4/12194 [Extract]
157
141996 - 1997
CJ 4/12229
157
411996 - 1996
CJ 4/12314
157
451996 - 1996
CJ 4/12286
157
671996 - 1996
CJ 4/12653 [Extract]
157
161996 - 1996
PREM 19/5713
158
871996 - None
CJ 4/12527
157
231996 - 1996
PREM 19/5714
158
791996 - None
CJ 4/12283 [Extract]
157
221996 - 1996
Enclosure: Alternative British Draft of the Joint Declaration (9 November 1993 Draft)
British Draft of the Joint Declaration. Includes multiple formulations of paragraph four, which offer mutiple phrasing options around the issues of consent and the appropriate unit of self-determination.
Unless otherwise specified, this material falls under Crown Copyright and contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The National Archives of the UK (TNA), digitzed by the Quill Project at https://quillproject.net/resource_collections/351/.
