New Northern Ireland secretary Shailesh Vara urged to ‘work constructively’ to restore powersharing

Simon Coveney had what was described as a warm and friendly phone call on Thursday afternoon with new British secretary of state for Northern Ireland Shailesh Vara.

Mr Vara was appointed to the role following the resignation of Brandon Lewis early on Thursday.

Mr Coveney, who is in New York on UN Security Council business, knows Mr Vara from the now 61 year old’s previously spell in Northern Ireland in 2018. Mr Vara said it was a “huge privilege to return to the Northern Ireland Office as Secretary of State”.

The two men agreed that Northern Ireland needs a Stormont government up and running as soon as possible. They vowed to work closely together on this and many other things and to meet in person as soon as possible.

Mr Vara spoke with the leaders of the Stormont parties by phone on Thursday afternoon.

Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill said she told Mr Vara during their conversation that he has a “responsibility to work constructively and even-handedly to restore powersharing”.

“I told him that he is the seventh British Secretary to fill the post under this Tory Government, and that while their priorities lie elsewhere, it is his duty for however short his tenure, to work constructively and even-handedly to restore powersharing,” she said.

Jeffrey Donaldson has said his party will not nominate ministers until the UK government takes action against the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Assembly has been unable to function for several months after the DUP withdrew from the powersharing administration.

Ms O’Neill said she told Mr Vara that she felt his predecessor had “undermined political stability at every turn”.

“This included giving cover to those denying the public democratic representation at the Assembly they voted for, and refusing to respect the democratic outcome of the recent election,” she said.

“The British government needs to accept its responsibilities and start working with all the Assembly parties, and the Irish Government to restore the Good Friday Agreement institutions, and stop placating the DUP who are in a needless stand-off which is unjustly punishing the public.”

Earlier Northern Ireland Office minister Conor Burns indicated he would remain in post, tweeting that he will lead for the government at a meeting of the British-Irish Council. - Additional reporting PA