Benn to use speech to declare ‘new chapter’ in UK-Irish relations

Mr Benn is due to deliver a keynote address at the annual British-Irish Association Conference in Oxfordshire later on Saturday.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Ireland's deputy premier Micheal Martin are also attending the conference.

Meanwhile, also on Saturday, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer will travel to Dublin to meet with the taoiseach, Simon Harris, in his first official visit to Ireland – and the first visit to Ireland by a UK prime minister in five years.

Mr Benn will use his speech to underline the new Labour government's commitment to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

However the TUV has said that it is time that that prime minister “started standing up for the whole of the United Kingdom”.

The secretary of state is expected to say: "Let me be clear, the government's commitment to the Good Friday Agreement is absolute.

"Our support for the European Convention on Human Rights, which underpins the Good Friday Agreement, is unwavering.

"And we will implement the Windsor Framework in good faith, not least because to do anything less would jeopardise the progress that has been made on the island of Ireland."

Mr Benn will also say that parties in Northern Ireland must realise further suspensions of the Stormont powersharing institutions cannot be allowed to happen. The assembly and executive returned in February after a two-year collapse caused by the DUP withdrawing from the powersharing coalition in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Mr Benn will say: "As co-guarantors of the agreement, it is also incumbent upon us to uphold the devolved institutions, to ensure they endure and that they act for all the people in Northern Ireland.

"Surely the Northern Ireland political parties must recognise that this can never be allowed to happen again, and were it to occur, our two governments as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, along with the parties, would need to find a new way forward."

The Northern Ireland Secretary will also acknowledge the "deep upset and anger" caused by the previous UK government's controversial Act to deal with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Labour has pledged to repeal and replace the Act and Mr Benn has met with the families of Troubles victims on the issue.

TUV deputy leader Ron McDowell said the primary reason for his party’s recent election breakthrough was that “North/South relations have, under the Protocol, been prioritised while our connections with the rest of the United Kingdom have been damaged”.

Mr McDowell added: “That lack of balance and refusal to recognise that Northern Ireland is part of the UK is the reason why Stormont was down for two years.

"While some self serving politicians have decided to restore Stormont in breach of their word to the electorate it remains clear that unionism will not tolerate a situation where we are treated as second class citizens in order to keep Dublin and Brussels happy.

“One also hopes that the Prime Minister does not just take a lecture from his Irish counterpart when it comes to legacy. It is important to remember that 93% of extradition requests refused during by the Republic during the terrorist campaign.

"The Irish Republic operated as a safe haven for IRA terrorists who successful argued in court that Irish constitution aspiration to an all Ireland meant they shouldn’t face justice”.