UK MPs and Lords call on government to stop Orange Order march on Garvaghy Road

More than twenty members of Parliament and the House of Lords have signed a letter to Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant, requesting that he intervene to stop the Orange Order’s planned march on Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The signatories, including Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and SNP MP Seamus Logan, contend that allowing the parade would reverse decades of peacebuilding achieved under the Good Friday Agreement and traumatise the majority-Catholic community.

They note that the Parades Commission, despite its difficult position, granted the march permission for the first time in roughly thirty years, prompting residents backed by Sinn Féin, the SDLP and People Before Profit to block the route and the PSNI to refuse passage. The appeal echoes a bipartisan US letter from Richard Neal and Mike Kelly and a statement from First Minister Michelle O'Neill urging decisive action. A legal challenge by local residents is pending before the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, which aims to deliver a swift ruling. The MPs argue that halting the march is essential to preserve the hard-won stability in Northern Ireland.