Rishi Sunak meets Northern Ireland Tories but says nothing about Windsor Framework

​Rishi Sunak met Tory members from Northern Ireland at their reception at the Conservative Party conference at the Heathrow Lounge of the Manchester Convention Centre.

Mr Sunak, who was accompanied by the reception host, the NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was warmly greeted by the Tory throng as he walked around the room, but he did not address the event.

The News Letter asked the prime minister if he expected to be mentioning Northern Ireland in his keynote speech today, which will mark the highlight and conclusion of the conference, and he smiled and said: “I expect to be mentioning a lot of things.”

The event was jointly hosted by Capital, Heathrow and Retail NI, representatives of whom spoke, as did John Wood, the chief executive of Harland and Wolff.

After Mr Sunak left the room, Mr Heaton-Harris addressed the gathering, where he praised businesses which had invested in the province.

Northern Ireland's biggest asset is its people, he told the crowd, some of the friendliest, wittiest people you will ever come across and “always, always, willing to give a hand”. He said that NI folk accompanied their friendliness “with frank advice you so often give me and it is much appreciated”.

Mr Heaton-Harris alluded to the Irish Sea border: “Over the last year the government has worked on tackling major issues, such as addressing the legacy of the Troubles, promoting Northern Ireland as a fantastic place to invest and do business and addressing the issues of the the Northern Ireland Protocol with the Windsor Framework, which has been in operation since Sunday and hopefully most people will have noticed – actually, hopefully most people wouldn't have noticed – is actually just ticking along in the background, exactly as it should be, as goods flow properly from GB to NI and NI back to GB.”

Mr Heaton-Harris said: “Now we are here because we are Conservatives and Unionists and this party is unionist to its core, it is British, and we recognise that this special place, Northern Ireland, is integral to the United Kingdom, as British as Finchley as one famous lady once said [cries of ‘hear hear’ from members of the crowd], it is a vibrant, thriving part of our country and a place I am privileged to be secretary of state for and call my second home.”

Also present at the reception were the former secretaries of state for Northern Ireland Julian Smith and Theresa Villiers, the latter of whom addressed the event, as were diplomats including the Irish ambassador to the UK.

In his conference address on Sunday, Mr Heaton-Harris said the government had agreed the Windsor Framework with the European Union after recognising flaws with the Northern Ireland Protocol.

He said the framework removes trade barriers, allows goods available in Great Britain to move freely to Northern Ireland, and safeguards the regions place within the United Kingdom internal market.

“I know concerns remain in Northern Ireland about the Windsor Framework and we will continue to work to address them. There is scope to do so, based on the principle that the UK internal market must be promoted as well as protected.

“But let us also remind ourselves of the fundamental truth – the vast majority of Northern Ireland’s economic life is dependent on its connection with the rest of the United Kingdom and that reality will not change. It’s time to get on with business.”

Mr Heaton-Harris told Conservative delegates: “So I say to my friends in the unionist community we will continue working to answer your remaining concerns. You know, and we know, progress has been made and we are working in a constructive spirit.

“And it is clear that the vast majority of people and their political leaders want to get this done.”

The Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie, who met Mr Heaton-Harris at the conference on Monday, said when asked about the prospect of Stormont returning: “I have tried to be optimistic but I’m as pessimistic now as I have been been, the government isn’t talking to us, we don’t know what is on offer.”