Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, has announced on social media that he will not be running for re-election in the future. On a post on X (formerly Twitter), Heaton-Harris expressed his gratitude to his constituents and described his time in office as an “honour and a privilege to serve.” Heaton-Harris has been the Northern Ireland secretary for a little over a year, describing it as the best job in the Cabinet.
Heaton-Harris first became an MP in 2010 and was appointed Tory Chief Whip in 2022 by Boris Johnson. Later that year, Liz Truss appointed him as secretary of state for Northern Ireland, a role he retained when Mr Sunak became prime minister.
Heaton-Harris has been busy during his time with the government. A large part of his role has been spent working on post-Brexit trading arrangements with the EU on behalf of Northern Ireland, which has privileged access for manufactured goods into the EU single market. He has helped to solve many of the major practical issues created by the Northern Ireland Protocol and reset the UK’s relationship with its European neighbours.
In his letter to Rishi Sunak, published on X over the weekend, Heaton-Harris said: “Then, after long and detailed negotiations within Northern Ireland, we produced the command paper Safeguarding the Union which resulted in the return of Stormont and devolved government to serve the people of Northern Ireland.” He added that he believed the region had the conditions to thrive and that he wished to complete some “unfinished business” before the next election
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