LGBT+ rights
In 1994,Hoey successfully proposed an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to have Northern Ireland included in the gay age of consent reform which reduced the male age from 21 to 18. Her amendment passed by 254 votes to 141. [24]
In 2010,Hoey was described as "the least gay-friendly of all Labour MPs" by the chief executive of Stonewall. [25] However,she voted in favour of same-sex marriage in 2013. [26]
In 2017,Hoey sparked criticism from LGBT advocates after it emerged she had liked a swastika-emblazoned Pride flag on Twitter. She stated that the tweet was "liked in error" and later apologised. [27]
In March 2019,Hoey abstained on a vote to allow LGBT+ inclusive education in schools. [28] When asked why by Vice News,she stated that it was "going to pass anyway". [29]
In July 2019,she was the only Labour MP to have voted against allowing abortion and same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. [30]
Brexit
Hoey advocated the United Kingdom leaving the European Union during the campaign for the EU membership referendum held on 23 June 2016. She pointed to Labour's earlier Euroscepticism "from Attlee to Foot" in The Independent and changes in European bodies since Jacques Delors' advocacy of a "social Europe" to refute the claim that Eurosceptism was a movement of the right. [31] She later extended these views,characterising the EU as a "part of the global movement to remove democratic resistance to capitalism" and as fascism,in a Heat Street /blog article [32] written after the EU referendum,deleted from her blog.
Originally active in Labour Leave as a co-chair,Hoey resigned in February 2016 following internal disagreements. [33] Soon afterwards,she became active in Grassroots Out,along with then-UKIP leader Nigel Farage and George Galloway,then-leader of the Respect Party. [34] In her Vauxhall constituency,an estimated 78% voted to remain in the EU. [35] [36] Her Constituency Labour Party (CLP) stated in February 2017 that she was insufficiently opposing Conservative government policy on child refugees and the residency rights of EU nationals after the UK leaves. [37]
The following month,Hoey was one of 70 parliamentary signatories to a letter sent to the Director-General of the BBC,Lord Hall of Birkenhead,along with two Labour colleagues and many Conservative politicians,which was critical of the BBC for running stories biased against Brexit. [38] Since then she has continued to criticise the BBC,accusing them of being "embittered Remainers" "taking delight" in "undermining our country". Fellow Labour MP Wes Streeting responded that it was "Orwellian" to expect broadcasters to "act as cheerleaders for the government". [39]
During an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme in November 2017,Hoey commented that the Irish border problem –how to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,post-Brexit,whilst avoiding a border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK –would be solved if the Republic of Ireland also left the EU. Addressing Senator Neale Richmond,Fine Gael spokesperson on European affairs in Seanad Éireann,Hoey said,"We joined the EU together,you joined when we joined,and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we leave and when we are very successful that you don't start thinking about leaving as well". [40]
Hoey attracted criticism again from within the Labour Party and from Irish political figures in February 2018 after she said the Good Friday Agreement was "not sustainable in the long term". These comments followed similar remarks by Eurosceptic Conservative politicians Daniel Hannan and Owen Paterson. Simon Coveney,the Republic of Ireland's Tánaiste (deputy head of government) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,condemned the comments as "not only irresponsible but reckless". Owen Smith,the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,said the remarks by Hannan,Paterson and Hoey were a "concerted,transparent effort to undermine the GFA... driven by their blind,misplaced faith in Brexit" and were "reckless and utterly wrong". [41]
On 17 July 2018,Hoey was one of five Labour MPs who defied the Labour whip in order to vote with the government on a Brexit amendment,which,if passed,would have required the UK to remain a member of a customs union with the EU in the event of no other arrangements on free trade and no arrangements for no hard border in Ireland. The UK Government was against this amendment,but would have lost the vote without Hoey and the other Labour rebels,who possibly saved the Government from defeat. [42] [43] A few days later her CLP members passed a motion calling for her Labour whip to be withdrawn and for her to become ineligible to be a future Labour parliamentary candidate. [44]
In March 2019,whilst taking part in a televised discussion about Brexit on the Andrew Neil show,Hoey was asked to "name any reputable independent study that show us better off if we leave". She admitted she could not produce any study that showed leaving the European Union would leave the UK in a better off position. [45] [46]
On 3 September 2019,Hoey and John Mann were the only Labour MPs to vote with the Government in an attempt to prevent MPs from taking control of the House in an attempt to block a potential no deal Brexit. [47] In November 2019,Hoey said she would be voting for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the December general election in Northern Ireland. She also endorsed the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson,stating that Labour "would not keep faith with the British people". [48]
In February 2021 Hoey,together with Jim Allister,leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice,and former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib,applied for a judicial review of the Northern Ireland Protocol,that was ultimately dismissed by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. [49] [50] [51] It was later revealed that the UK Government had spent a total of £196,567 of public money on legal fees associated with defending the judicial actions against the Northern Ireland Protocol. [52]
In June 2021,Hoey claimed that the Republic of Ireland "will probably decide to leave" in the short term following the UK's departure from the EU. [53]
In January 2022,Hoey faced widespread criticism after writing "there are very justified concerns that many professional vocations [in Northern Ireland] have become dominated by those of a nationalist persuasion,and this positioning of activists is then used to exert influence on those in power" in the foreword for a loyalist pamphlet. [54] Hoey's comments initially incited a vocal reaction on social media, [55] with some from a Catholic background posting their educational achievements in response. [56] The Belfast branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) accused her of adopting "an appallingly blinkered view of professional journalists". [54] Sinn Féin vice-president and Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill labelled the piece "outrageous" and called on Hoey to withdraw the remarks,saying they were a throwback to a "bygone era". O'Neill added that "the days of nationalists being denied opportunities are gone". [54] Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA Matthew O'Toole accused Hoey of promoting a "McCarthyite tactic of othering members of the judiciary,lawyers,academics or journalists just because you disagree with them". [54] Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie dismissed Hoey's comments as "vacuous". [57] Alliance Party MP Stephen Farry said she was espousing an 'enemy within' argument that was "inaccurate,sinister,and dangerous" and represented a "further shameful intervention" from Hoey. [58]
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson endorsed the report and Hoey's foreword,describing it as a "welcome contribution". [59]
Journalist Susan McKay described the remarks as sectarian and "distasteful" and linked them to historic Protestant resentment of increasing Catholic social mobility in Northern Ireland. [60] The unionist-leaning [61] News Letter claimed to have unearthed data "which appear[ed] to support" Hoey's comments,noting that according to the 2011 census,there were 2,474 legal professionals with a Catholic background practicing in Northern Ireland,compared with 1,665 from a Protestant background. The Newsletter was unable to find a similar breakdown for journalists. [62]
