Northern Ireland

Former Secretary of State Julian Smith says assembly election should be delayed

The restored assembly pictured in January 2020.
The restored assembly pictured in January 2020. The restored assembly pictured in January 2020.

Former secretary of state Julian Smith has said there should be a delay in calling the next assembly election to allow the Stormont parties to “work together for a good three years”.

The Conservative MP was answering questions from Westminster’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committee about the New Decade, New Approach deal he helped negotiate during his short tenure.

The January agreement ended three years of deadlock at Stormont after devolution collapsed amid the RHI scandal.

The next assembly election is planned for May 2022, but Mr Smith, above, said given how the Covid-19 crisis has delayed reforms planned in the deal, the mandate should now be extended by an extra year.

He said he felt that a more “meaningful election” could then take place.

Mr Smith pointed to public outrage at hospital waiting lists to help explain a change in attitude from local politicians during the negotiations.

“I think there were a number of factors that meant the deal happened in January – many of those were the context of the circumstance after the election in December,” he said.

Mr Smyth said it “became apparent” that the public were outraged at “over 300,000 people on health waiting lists in Northern Ireland, coupled by the first strike of nurses in over 100 years in the United Kingdom”.

The MP added that the removal of controversial issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage from the Stormont in-tray made the issue of the petition of concern less relevant to this term of devolution.

He said the debate around this was “particularly intense” and talks stalled as a result of initial disagreement between parties on how they should proceed on the blocking mechanism.

The DUP’s Ian Paisley asked would it not be “absolute folly” for Westminster to intervene on issues such as abortion that might upset that “applecart”, saying Westminster should “step well away” and leave it to the assembly.

Mr Smith said the government had a “legal duty to deliver those regulations”.

“My understanding of the legal situation is that the regulations are the law and the implementation is for the executive,” he said.

Under questioning from the SDLP’s Claire Hanna and Stephen Farry from the Alliance Party, Mr Smith also said that Brexit had “frayed relationships” in Northern Ireland that badly needed repaired.

“Everyone accepts it’s happening. All I would urge is we don’t get into a standoff and we continue to have conversations,” he said.

Asked if he felt his removal from his post after just 204 days was premature, Mr Smith said: “The prime minister gave me the opportunity to serve the people of Northern Ireland and to do this deal.

“I am extremely grateful and stand ready to help both the government and the people of Northern Ireland in any way I can. There are no hard feeling or bad feelings from me.”