SINCE RETURNING TO power in 2010, the Conservatives have appointed eight different Northern Ireland Secretaries.
The latest of those is Chris Heaton-Harris, who replaces the short lived appointment of Shailesh Vara, who was sacked by new Prime Minister Liz Truss yesterday evening after just two months in the job.
Heaton-Harris takes on the role while the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive remain non-functioning, with the DUP refusing to re-enter power-sharing until after the UK’s controversial Northern Ireland Protocol bill is passed through the House of Lords.
The Tory MP, who was first elected in 2010, is an arch Brexiteer who was previously the chairman of the European Research Group (ERG), which is a group of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs that has driven policy within the party in recent years.
He has been an MP for Daventry for 12 years.
He was a Brexit Minister from 2018 – 2019, but resigned to support Andrea Leadsom when she ran against Boris Johnson. After that he was appointed to the role of Minister of State for Transport by Johnson.
On his own website, he describes himself as a “fierce Eurosceptic” and was a former MEP from 1999 to 2009.
His appointment has been welcomed by the DUP, with party leader Jeffrey Donaldson saying that he needed to work to “replace” the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“Northern Ireland is further hampered in this cost-of-living crisis due to the NI Protocol inflating costs for businesses and consumers as well. This is exactly why we need to see the Secretary of State working to replace the Protocol with arrangements that unionists can support,” said Donaldson.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney also congratulated Heaton-Harris, saying that they had previously worked together in the European Parliament as MEPs.
He said that they had a “good initial conversation” today and that there was a “lot of work to do together” in the coming weeks.
Good initial conversation with Chris Heaton-Harris, new Sec of State for Northern Ireland, today. Looking forward to meeting in the coming weeks. A lot of work to do together. 🇮🇪🇬🇧@chhcalling @NIOgov @dfatirl
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) September 7, 2022
While his appointment was welcomed by the DUP, Heaton-Harris is unlikely to be welcomed by nationalists due to his hardline approach to Brexit.
SDLP MP Claire Hanna said that she was concerned about the UK Government’s policy direction following the appointment of both Heaton-Harris and hardline Brexiteer Steve Baker to the Northern Ireland office.
“The appointment of another hard-line Eurosceptic to a senior position in the Northern Ireland Office is a red flag when issues related to the Protocol remain politically sensitive,” said Hanna.
In his first comments to the House of Commons this morning, Heaton-Harris said: “I know the House shares my view that Northern Ireland needs a stable, fully functioning devolved government to deliver on the issues that matter to people most.”
Both he and the new Prime Minister have said that they would prefer a “negotiated solution” to issues with the Protocol. However, both have also said that they are willing to use the NI Protocol bill to override the current EU-UK agreement.
Truss has also said that any negotiation with the EU must deliver the entire NI Protocol bill.
“We need to resolve the issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol. My preference is for a negotiated solution, but it does have to deliver all of the things we set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol bill,” said Truss, speaking during her first Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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