Former Northern Ireland secretary says he believes Hilary Benn is '100% committed' to implementing DUP deal

Chris Heaton-Harris says that he believes “one hundred per cent” that Hilary Benn is committed to honouring the Safeguarding the Union command paper.

It comes after the DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the government “must demonstrate greater urgency” – saying the Labour administration “has been slow to respond to our concerns”. In January he said while the deal “did not secure all of our negotiating objectives” the DUP would “continue the fight to fully restore Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom”.

The East Belfast MP said Sir Keir Starmer’s government had been slow to progress specific aspects of the deal, including appointing the Independent Monitoring Panel and enabling Intertrade UK “to get to work”.

Speaking to Cool FM journalist James Gould last week, Mr Heaton Harris said that he opposed Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an early general election, in part, because there was more to do on the deal struck with the DUP in January 2024.

He said : “I was one of two people in cabinet that said it was a bad idea to go for a general election when we did. Part of that was because there was some business I wanted to continue to get into a better state, and to finish in that Safeguarding the Union piece.

“Had we been able to get to November last year and called the election then, I actually think we'd be able to move forward a great deal, but that wasn't to be.

“We're under new management, as it were. I think.. the new management is finding out that government's not quite as easy as they thought it was going to be. And there's plenty of economic woes that people remind me of every time I go outside to talk to folks.

“But things changed, and Rishi Sunak made his made his call. I disagreed with it, but humbly respected it, because he was my boss

“And now I do believe that when the current Secretary of State says he wants to make sure that Safeguarding the Union is honoured, he means it 100 per cent”. The former Tory MP said he would “have been able to continue the momentum” had he stayed in post.

“I truly believe Hilary Benn’s heart is in exactly the right place”, he said. “I do believe that Hilary is good to his word. I really do. And I know he absolutely cares about Northern Ireland and wants to get it right, and he will make calls, as I did, that he'll get wrong. But I do think the general direction is a good one”.

Earlier this month, the News Letter asked Mr Benn if he committed to implementing the outstanding commitments in the Safeguarding the Union command paper in full – and whether new rules on parcels would come into effect at the end of March as planned, or if it would be delayed.

He responded: “We are working very hard to get on with implementing commitments in Safeguarding the Union. Many of them as you know have already been implemented, others are work in progress and some of them depend on the continuing discussions we have with the EU which is why negotiating an SPS and a veterinary agreement will be so important to resolving some of the issues that have arisen with the movement of plant and animal products.

“On the parcels, we weren’t ready in time for the last date. The EU said ‘well if you’re not going to be ready on the parcels then the easement on the movement of goods and paperwork.. is not going to come in at the same time’. So we have a real incentive to make sure that we are ready on the parcels, to get the benefit of the other part of the arrangement – that will be put in place.

“Officials and the businesses are working really hard to put that in place. In the end we have to have systems that work for people”.