Sunak urges Northern Ireland executive to focus on ‘things that matter’, not constitutional change – UK politics live | Politics

Relations between London and Dublin are considerably better than they were when Boris Johnson was PM. There are still not ideal – the Irish government is taking the UK to the European court of human rights over its Troubles legacy act – but at his news conference Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach went out of his way to avoid saying anything that would cause trouble for No 10. Here are the main points.

• Varadkar sought to reassure unionists worried about having a Sinn Féin first minister, saying he expected the new executive to focus on day-to-day issues. Some unionists were alarmed to see Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill take office, and she will have confirmed their fears by saying at the weekend that she expected to see a referendum on reunification within a decade. (See 11.22am.) Varadkar has said before that he does expected reunification within his lifetime. But, when asked about this issue, he said that was “not for today”. He backed Rishi Sunak in saying the executive should focus on day-to-day issues. (See 12.28pm.) And he insisted they were doing this. He told reporters:

Certainly, the sense that I got from the first minister, the deputy minister and the the executive is they’re very keen to get stuck into their briefs, and very keen to work on those day-to-day issues and we’re here to help.

• He said that although he had “some reservations” about what was in the Safeguarding the Union command paper published by the UK government last week, “particularly some of the more negative language around the all-island economy”, overall it was acceptable. He explained:

Crucially, nothing in what’s been negotiated breaks any red lines. I remember when Brexit happened, we set out a number of objectives. One was to make sure there’s no hard border between north and south. The other was to make sure that the Republic of Ireland’s position in the European single market wasn’t undermined in any way. And the third was to make sure that the Good Friday agreement institutions would function. And all of those things are the case today. That makes it a very positive day in my view.

In the command paper the UK government describes the concept of an all-island economy, which was seen as a fact by previous governments, as “divisive and misguided”. And it says:

Whilst access to the EU market has broad support amongst business and consumers, the creation of a new political construct of the ‘all-island economy’ is clearly more divisive in nature and has been rejected by the current government.

• He said that, while he would not rule out reforming the way Stormont works, he was not suggesting that now because “a period of bedding down and focusing on the day-to-day issues really should come first”.

Rishi Sunak’s government does not merit a top performance rating, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has said. Kevin Rawlinson has the story here.

At his press conference Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, was asked about the Policy Exchange report out today criticising Ireland for being weak on defence. (See 11.49am.) He said he had not read the whole thing, but he had read a summary and did not agree with it. He went on:

As a country and a government, we take security and defence very seriously. We are dramatically scaling up our defence budget in the Republic of Ireland, and also we’re getting more involved in international security.

We’ve always been actively involved in the UN. But we are founding members of Pesco [Permanent Structured Cooperation – an EU organisation], which is the common European security and defence policy, we’re part of that. We’re also updating our relationship with Nato through the Partnership for Peace. So we take security matters very seriously.

Rishi Sunak has declined to give his backing to calls by the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey for social media apps to be banned on smartphones for under-16s, PA Media reports.

Esther Ghey is campaigning for searches for inappropriate material to be flagged to parents in the wake of the sentencing of her transgender daughter’s killers.

Asked about the case during his visit to Northern Ireland, Sunak said:

As a parent, I am always worried about social media and what my young girls are exposed to

That’s why I’m pleased we have passed the Online Safety Act over the last year and that means the regulator now has tough new powers to control what is exposed to children online.

And if the big social media companies do not comply with that, the regulator is able to levy very significant fines on them and the priority now is making sure that act is up and running.

At the weekend Ghey told the BBC she wanted a law “that there are mobile phones that are only suitable for under-16s”. But Sunak declined to say whether the government would back such an idea.

In December it was reported that Sunak was considering banning under-16s from some social media. But at PMQs two weeks ago, when asked by a Conservative MP to confirm that he was considering this as an option, Sunak dodged the question.

In the US some states are legislating to restrict teenagers’ access to social media. In Florida a law is going through that would stop under-16s creating a new social media account.

At Stormont Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, is speaking to the media at Stormont.

He says he is keen to work with the new executive, and to get North/South cooperation up and running again. The North South Council, set up under the Good Friday agreement to allow the Irish government and the Northern Ireland executive to liaise, has not been meeting.

Asked about reunification, and what Rishi Sunak said about Michelle O’Neill (see 11.22am and 11.56am), Varadkar says:

The priority for any new executive in any government in any country has to be the day-to-day concerns for people.

Another reporter tries, and asks Varadkar if he expects to see a united Ireland. In the past Varadkar has said he does expect to see a united Ireland in his lifetime, but now he says that is not a question to answer today.

This is from Christopher Hope from GB News.

Leo Varadkar press conference at the Stormont parliament building:@GBNEWS: “Will you see a united [island of Ireland] within 10 years?
Varadkar: “That’s not for today.”

Rishi Sunak has also defended the £3.3bn funding deal for Northern Ireland that has been described as inadquate by the new executive. (See 10.48am.) Asked about their objections, he said:

The funding package that we put on the table before Christmas has, I think, been widely recognised as being significant and generous.

[It is focused on] long-term sustainability, ensuring that Northern Ireland has the funding it needs, not just for today to deal with the immediate challenges, but it is on a path to be able to provide high-quality public services into the future.

Rishi Sunak has urged the new Northern Ireland executive to focus on “the day-to-day things that matter to people”, not constitutional change.

Speaking to broadcasters, the PM refused to endorse Michelle O’Neill’s claim that a referendum on Irish reunification could be held within a decade. (See 11.22am.)

Asked about the new first minister’s comment, Sunak said:

I had very constructive meetings this morning with the executive, with political leaders across Stormont, and it is a historic and important day for the country, because Northern Ireland’s politicians are back in charge, making decisions on behalf of their people, which is exactly how it should be.

Now, our new deal gives them more funding and more powers than they have ever had, so they can deliver for families and businesses across Northern Ireland. And that’s what everyone’s priority is now.

It is not constitutional change, it is delivering on the day-to-day things that matter to people.

Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin president, is leader of the opposition in the Irish parliament and it seems likely that after next election she will be taoiseach, leading the government. Today Policy Exchange, a rightwing thinktank with good links to the UK government, has published a report claiming that Ireland’s neutrality, and its very limited spending on defence, poses a security threat to the UK and suggesting that, with Sinn Féin in power in Dublin, this problem could get worse.

It says:

As well as proving a menace in the maritime domain, Russia – alongside China and Iran – seeks to degrade the UK and its allies through unconventional means. Cyber warfare, institutional espionage, and educational and economic infiltration are all subthreshold methods employed by these authoritarian regimes to destabilise the West.

The combination of ROI’s [the Republic of Ireland’s] flimsy security and intelligence apparatus, unwillingness to acknowledge these threats, and soft border with Northern Ireland poses a grave back-door security risk to the UK. Adversaries are certain to target the ROI, due to its close integration into transatlantic economic and digital systems, membership of the EU, and self-imposed exclusion from multilateral security frameworks. There is already strong evidence of a subversive and illegal Russian, Chinese and Iranian presence across Irish society and sensitive institutions …

As it stands, Sinn Féin is expected to win the ROI’s next election in 2025, a party which will be no friend to British interests. Sinn Féin’s long history of Anglophobia, and conflict with the British state and security services – as well as its opposition to Nato, Russian sympathies, and general anti-western sympathies – will obstruct any meaningful recalibration of security arrangements with the UK. If Sinn Féin wins in 2025, the UK is therefore looking at many more years of an uncooperative, and likely hostile, neighbour in the face of growing external threats.

Asked about the report in an interview with Sky News, Peter Hain, a Labour former Northern Ireland secretary, suggested this was an exaggeration. “The Irish government is going to want to be friends with the British government, whoever is in power, because of our close economic relationship,” he said.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Michelle O’Neill, the new first minister, said she expected a referendum on Irish reunification within a decade.

The Good Friday agreement says that, if it appears “likely” that people in Northern Ireland would vote to join a united Ireland, the UK government must hold a referendum.

But the Safeguarding the Union command paper published by the UK government last week said that this was unlikely to happen for decades. It said:

On the basis of all recent polling, the government sees no realistic prospect of a border poll leading to a united Ireland. We believe that, following the restoration of the devolved institutions, Northern Ireland’s future in the UK will be secure for decades to come and as such the conditions for a border poll are unlikely to be objectively met.

In an interview this morning Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, said that he did not agree with O’Neill about a referendum taking place within a decade and that she was wrong to raise the issue. He told Sky News:

I don’t agree with that at all. I think that Michelle O’Neill, instead of focusing on a divisive border poll – she says she wants to be a first minister for all, well that means the unionist community …

Let’s move forward together. Let’s focus on the issues that really matter to people. They’re not interested in a divisive border poll.