Sir Chris Bryant appointed new NI secretary

Sir Chris Bryant has been appointed secretary of state for Northern Ireland, following Andy Burnham's Cabinet reshuffle as prime minister.

The MP for Rhondda and Ogmore has replaced Hilary Benn, who was appointed in 2024.

It is Sir Chris's first cabinet position, although he held a number of shadow frontbench roles under Sir Keir Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn.

Benn said he wished Sir Chris "all the very best in working with the executive to protect stability, continuing to generate growth and investment and in taking forward the Troubles Bill". He pledged to support Burnham from the back benches.

There may be some surprise at Benn's exit from government as he had just started talks with the Stormont parties and treasury officials in a bid to agree a multi-year budget after months of stalemate.

Now his successor will have to finish that process.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that Sir Chris was in a position "to seize discussions around financial stabilities and around providing a budget and around doing some of the structural changes that Hilary has done the spade work for".

"We don't want to be in a position where we have to start from scratch again," Robinson added.

Robinson added that he had been "disappointed continually by Labour politicians, secretaries of state and prime ministers who talk warmly and richly about reset relations with the EU, but seem to have their eye off the ball about some of the significant issues we have for Northern Ireland".

"This reshuffle has been quite significant, the impact of it I think will reverberate for months and months to come," Robinson said.

Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan said personalities were "irrelevant" regarding the appointment of the new secretary of state and that policy needed to change.

"The name plates may change around the British cabinet table," he said.

"What's important for us is that policy changes and particularly in regard to the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, specifically in terms of preparing for a referendum on Irish unity," he said.

TUV MLA Timothy Gaston told the Nolan Show that Sir Chris must be a "secretary of state that is willing to repair the damage done by the Irish sea border".

"What we have seen in the past, over the last number of months is that he is unsympathetic to doing anything about that."

Gaston cited Sir Chris's previous role as minster for trade, when new steel tariffs were introduced earlier this month.

Shaun Woodward, a former Labour MP who served as Northern Ireland secretary in 2009-10, said he has known Sir Chris for more than 25 years.

"He is the kind of secretary of state Northern Ireland needs, I think it is a very astute appointment by the prime minister," he said.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme, Woodward said Bryant "is a very fair minded person", adding he is a "fast learner, a very smart guy".

"Hilary was a good secretary of state, things change, secretaries of state come and go - I know that – but you can have confidence in Chris coming in".

A promise Labour had made in its election manifesto was to repeal and replace the controversial Troubles legacy act.

Passed under Rishi Sunak's government, parts of it including conditional immunity were deemed unlawful by the courts, while victims and political parties in Northern Ireland had no confidence in it.

The legislation is still sitting in the Commons, with no sight of the government's amendments on proposed protections for veterans or how it will command confidence of victims and survivors.

The NI veterans commissioner, David Johnstone, told the Nolan Show Sir Chris must "fundamentally review" the legacy act.

"It is difficult to try and satisfy so many different constituencies," he said.

"Those who followed lawful orders should not be dragged endlessly through prosecutions, court cases and coroners inquests."

Sir Chris joined the Labour party in 1986 and has served as MP in the Welsh constituency of Rhondda and Ogmore since 2001.

During Gordon Brown's tenure he served as deputy leader of the Commons.

He takes up his new post having moved from the Department for Business and Trade.

Sir Chris is a literature-loving Labour Party veteran who regularly quotes Shakespeare in TV and radio interviews.

He has written 10 books including a two-volume history of parliament.

The Welsh MP is also a former Anglican priest but quit the church in 1991 over its stance on homosexuality.

He and long-term partner Jarred Cranney were the first couple to enter a civil partnership in the Palace of Westminster in 2010.

In 2023 he was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his campaigning work around acquired brain injury and melanoma - a type of skin cancer.