Stormont is ‘crying out for change’ – Sir Chris Bryant

Stormont is “crying out for change”, Sir Chris Bryant has said, as he pledged to shake up the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Northern Ireland Secretary said there was private agreement that the country needs “urgent constitutional reform” as he spoke at the Labour Conference in Liverpool.

It comes amid tension in Northern Ireland over a contentious parade planned by the Orange Order.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill has also been accused of showing “gross contempt” to the assembly by the Stormont speaker, after she refused to answer an urgent question on her participation in an unlawful protest against the controversial parade.

Addressing the conference on Tuesday, Sir Chris said: “Absolutely, we need to shake up Stormont. It’s crying out for change.

“Six months into the financial year, it’s still not got a settled budget, and every single councillor in this room knows that’s not normal, and no one, at least in private, disagrees that there needs to be urgent constitutional reform in Northern Ireland.

“Of course, I want to do that cross-party with the broadest possible consensus.”

He added: “I say to everyone in Northern Ireland politics, come on, folks, work with me, or even better, work with each other and with me.

“Let’s do something remarkable – strike deals across the party divide, rise to the challenge, set aside private gripes for the common good, because we can achieve far more by our common endeavour than we can by going alone.”

Sir Chris also described the situation in Drumcree, where the Orange Order had planned its march, as “tense”.