Northern Ireland secretary ‘truly believes’ Stormont will be up and running by end of year

The Northern Ireland secretary has said he “truly believes” Stormont will be up and running by the end of the year.

Chris Heaton-Harris told Sky News: “You can’t put deadlines on things, you can’t force people’s hands.”

But when asked if the Northern Ireland Assembly will be up and running by the end of the year, he said: “I’m a glass-half-full guy and, yes, I truly believe that, and I actually believe their leadership would love that to happen too.”

Northern Ireland has not had a functioning government since February 2022, when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to form a power-sharing government in protest over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

In February this year, the UK government agreed a new deal for Northern Ireland with the EU aimed at tackling the difficulties caused by the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol.

But the DUP has argued problems remain and the new Windsor Framework still leaves the nation subject to EU rules.

Despite the DUP continuing to refuse to form an executive, Mr Heaton-Harris said he is confident they will do so by the end of the year.

“But I do understand their needs,” he said.

“They need time and space to digest all that’s in the Windsor Framework on what’s going on.”

He added that it is integral to have the DUP in agreement with Westminster to maintain the peace and stability the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) has brought.

Read more: What is in the Windsor Framework?

Mr Heaton-Harris said there is “a process to take the whole unionist community” with the DUP, adding that it “is vitally important for peace and stability and prosperity moving forward”.

“And I completely understand that,” he said.

The Northern Ireland secretary also emphasised “Northern Ireland is a proud and integral part of the United Kingdom, and the British government is so proud of it being there”.

He has been in Northern Ireland this week celebrating 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, ending decades of violence and conflict and establishing the nation’s current form of power-sharing government.

Read more:
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Former US president Bill Clinton, whose government was involved in the peace process with the Irish and British governments, has also been in Belfast this week for the anniversary, along with Sir Tony Blair, Joe Biden and former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern.

Hillary Clinton, the then first lady and more recently US secretary of state, told Sky News on Tuesday she was “privileged to have been a witness to history” but “the jury is out” over whether the agreement needs adjusting due to the current stalemate.

“I do think [the GFA] was a work of genius to end the conflict and create the structure for self-governance within the appropriate relationship with the UK. And I think that it has worked, except when leaders decided it would no longer work for their own reasons,” she said.

“The question is whether leaders themselves, the current generation of leaders, can restore confidence in the ability of the people of Northern Ireland to elect a government that will then actually govern or whether there does, as former prime minister Blair said, have to be some adjustments within the agreement itself. I think the jury is out on that because right now we’re all hoping that they will stand up.

“I think it’s very much in [the DUP’s] interest [to get back to Stormont].”