Sir Chris Bryant says Irish Sea border arrangements are 'pretty much settled' and NI should 'exploit' deal
The new Northern Ireland Secretary says that the Windsor Framework is “pretty much a settled position” and should be exploited – but has dodged a question on the impact of the human rights aspect of the deal on Northern Ireland.
Sir Chris Bryant declined to say whether he believed it was credible that the legal definition of a woman could be different in Northern Ireland than the rest of the UK, saying it felt like a “gotcha question”.
The Labour minister was speaking to journalists at his first press conference since being appointed by Andy Burnham in July.
He said while he was a historian and history is important, he really wants to spend “a lot of my time focusing on the future of Northern Ireland”.
Sir Chris took questions alongside Sarah Owen, the new junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO). She said the province has a “unique position in terms of the economy, but it's also unique in terms of culture, music, arts”.
The News Letter asked Mr Bryant about the unique rights framework applicable to Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework, and whether it is credible that after the definition of a man and a woman is different here from the rest of the UK – and whether he intends to address that issue.
The Equality Commission believes the definitions may be different in Northern Ireland, and says the province’s equality laws don’t provide “comprehensive definitions” of what those words mean. The body has asked the courts to adjudicate on the impact of the framework on a UK supreme court ruling which defined it based on biological sex.
The Secretary of State said: “That feels very much like a gotcha kind of question. But look, I mean, I I start from a fundamental position, which is that men have penises, women women have vaginas, and that that covers the vast majority of people.
“There are a tiny number of people who are not covered by that for medical reasons, and then there's a category of people who, for all sorts of different personal reasons and complexities, may feel that they are in the wrong body.
“I want us to be as generous a society as we possibly can, I want to make sure that women's rights are protected.
“But it's not an issue that's come across my desk yet at all in relation to Northern Ireland”.
He added: “I don't want to run away from the question, but it's not an issue that's come across my desk yet. So I think I need a little bit more notice before I'm going to hold forth”. On the Windsor Framework more generally, he said: “I do think that there is an opportunity here for us to exploit in terms of the economic future of Northern Ireland. What we want is a lot more investment in Northern Ireland.
“We want to make sure that Northern Ireland can really prosper and have well-paid jobs into the future. That's only going to happen if we get everybody around the table and exploit the benefits and explain to the rest of the United Kingdom and to other international potential investors, the opportunities that lie in being in the single market, but also being in the in the internal market within the United Kingdom.
“I'm determined to exploit those as much as I possibly can. And I've already... been talking to some of my trade counterparts in other countries in the world about how we can talk about more investment into Northern Ireland”.
Asked if he was suggesting unionists should move on from their objections to the deal. Mr Bryant said: “You know, it's pretty much a settled position, and I think we just need to exploit it.
“I've said it many many times. I note that Northern Ireland voted to remain, but we're now in this unique position, and we should exploit it”.