Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said he “fundamentally disagrees” with claims he is trying to “bully” the DUP back into Stormont.
Giving evidence to a group of Westminster MPs on Tuesday, Mr Heaton-Harris also warned that in the absence of the North’s powersharing institutions – which have been down for over a year – people will “start to cast around” for an alternative form of government.
During a heated exchange at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee hearing, DUP MP Jim Shannon accused him of using “inflammatory” language that was “dismissive of unionism” at a Queen’s University Belfast event marking the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement.
At last’s week event, Mr Heaton-Harris delivered a speech in which he referenced those politicians involved in the landmark 1998 peace deal – opposed by the DUP – and said that “real leaders know when to say yes”.
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Addressing the Northern Secretary at Tuesday’s hearing, Mr Shannon said his party had felt “particularly aggrieved” by the speech, and asked him to “pick his words much more carefully”.
“I would suggest, Mr Secretary of State, that what you tried to do was disarm the DUP and bully them towards a point of view.
“But what you’re done is, you have armed loyalism and unionism back home on the streets. [Your] words were inflammatory, badly chosen, and... I think you have a lot of work to do.”
The DUP collapsed the Stormont Executive last February and refuses to re-enter government over its opposition to post-Brexit trade arrangements.
At the Westminster hearing, which was examining the implementation of the Windsor Framework agreement drawn up between the UK government and the European Union to resolve the deadlock, Mr Heaton-Harris told Mr Shannon that he “stands by every word” of his speech.
He said he had “huge respect” for Mr Shannon, adding: “But I fundamentally disagree [with his claims] because I actually do believe there is a very positive future for the union that comes from what we’ve managed to achieve in the Windsor Framework, that means that the union can get stronger in the in the not-too-distant future with the institutions up and running.
“But I think there is a danger without those institutions up and running... then people start to question the institutions, whether they’re working for them, then that’s when people start to cast around for alternatives.
“And that’s something I think, as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, I have every right to say.”
He added he was part of a unionist government but cautioned that “there are other alternative governments available, that might not be quite as unionist”, referring to the possibility of a referendum on a united Ireland and different governing arrangements for the North.
The committee was also scrutinising funding for public services in the North amid huge cuts to the education budget and other Stormont government departments, which are currently being run by civil servants.
So-called holiday hunger payments for children entitled to free school meals, school counselling services and a scheme providing free books for babies are among those affected by recent cuts.
Despite being pressed by SDLP MP Claire Hanna, Mr Heaton-Harris refused to give a date when he would set a budget for the North but added he would do so “in very short order”.
Asked if that meant “days or weeks”, he replied: “Never give a timeline to anything in Northern Ireland.”
He told the committee: “Northern Ireland’s public finances are currently not on a sustainable footing. The necessary strategic decisions have not been taken for a long period of time.
“For four out of the past six years Northern Ireland has been without its locally elected representatives.
“What we are seeing now essentially are the implications of that.”
