‘Up the Ra’ latest: DUP MP voices support for new anti-paramilitary law – but says the Tories will not let it happen

Her comments come amid growing calls to beef up the authorities' legal arsenal when it comes to tackling things like "up the Ra" chants.

The DUP had already attempted to expand the law by tagging on an amendment to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.

This is the hugely-unpopular draft law which will create an amnesty for Troubles-era crimes.

The DUP amendment meant that if someone committed a “glorifying terrorism” crime in the future, and that person had already benefited from the amnesty, judges could use this as an “aggravating factor” when it came to sentencing them.

But this amendment was rejected by the government.

The whole issue has come to the fore in recent months thanks to umpteen high-profile news stories involving people praising paramilitaries – in particular, by chanting the phrase "up the Ra".

The most recent case was on Saturday, when Edwin Poots was allegedly confronted by an individual on a flight who used the phrase.

– ‘DUP BACKS CHANGING THE LAW’ –

Under the UK-wide Terrorism Act 2006, people can get a 15 year sentence for glorifying terrorism – but this law appears essentially never to be used when it comes to people chanting “up the Ra”, or putting up paramilitary murals and flags.

Already this week, Arlene Foster has told the News Letter she is considering drafting her own bill on the matter, and Jim Allister has given his own detailed breakdown of how he thinks the existing law can be toughened.

But Mrs Lockhart has told the News Letter she is very pessimistic about any new law coming from Westminster.

“Most people with a basic understanding of right and wrong will agree that exalting the death and destruction of the IRA is not acceptable," she said.

"Sadly, we see an increasing number of people, particularly younger people, in our society who believe it is OK…

"Clearly the narrative of the period known as ‘The Troubles’ is being shaped within some schools in such a way that young people emerge into society and deem it acceptable to shout ‘ooh aah up the Ra’. That in itself raises many questions.

"The DUP would support a change in the law to address this issue. However we need to be wary of building up false hope that such legislation would be allowed through by the Government.

"In the course of the passage of the flawed Legacy Bill we sought to amend the Bill to address this very point, but the Government rejected this proposal without any real explanation.

"Whilst any new attempt is welcome, it will require the government to change its stance.”

– COULD LOCAL CHANGES HAVE AN EFFECT? –

However, the Alliance Party has signalled that it could drive through a measure at a local level which could have some impact.

A party spokesman told the News Letter: "As justice minister, Naomi Long had commenced work to include sectarianism as a form of hate crime, as part of the implementation of the Marrinan Review recommendations.

"Expressions of hate, directed at individuals, or when accompanying other offences as an aggravator, could potentially be encapsulated in that.

"This would need to be balanced against the right to freedom of speech and expression, which particularly in the political space is afforded significant latitude under the law."

The Marrinan Review was carried out by a judge in 2020, and among other things, it called for a "new offence of statutory aggravation for sectarian prejudice".

This, it said, "should be carefully monitored by the proposed Hate Crime Commissioner on an annual basis and provide an annual report to the Northern Ireland Assembly".

The UUP meanwhile issued a statement from East Antrim MLA John Stewart, saying: "The Ulster Unionist Party deplores the recent incidents whereby victims have been retraumatised, mocked and taunted.

"We need to build a shared society where respect and tolerance is the order of the day, and what happened to Arlene Foster was about as far away from that as it is possible to get.

"If existing legislation is insufficient to deal with such incidents, then clearly we need to examine alternative solutions and if new laws are necessary to make it easier for the police to charge the culprits, then we would support that."