Labour’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn's Speech at Labour Party Conference 2025

Labour's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn's Speech at Labour Party Conference 2025.

Good Morning Conference.

I want to begin by thanking my great team - Matthew Patrick and my PPS Matt Rodda in the Commons - Ruth Anderson in the Lords.  And Fleur Anderson for all that you did.  

We meet here today to reflect on what we have already achieved as a Labour Government, but also to look to the future.

Because, in the years to come people will look back on what we are doing with pride.    

They will know that in the most difficult of times, we chose the path of renewal - of change for the better.  

Now Conference, three months ago, I walked into a film studio. There was an enormous bank of LED screens and an Alpine scene. And a man with a button moved it about. And the sun rose, and the sun set, as the shadows fell across the snow-covered mountains.

It was magical.  But I wasn't in Hollywood. And I wasn't at Pinewood Studios. I was in Belfast at the new Studio Ulster. The most advanced virtual production film facility in Europe, funded by the UK Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, Belfast City Council and other partners.

It is a symbol of Belfast's physical transformation and of Northern Ireland's growing reputation as a major film and television location. From Game of Thrones to Line of Duty and Blue Lights.  

This is the story of the new Northern Ireland - a place of possibility and innovation - which is so important to our shared economic future as a United Kingdom.

The Northern Ireland of today is home to world-leading universities, cutting edge AI and cyber firms, advanced manufacturers like Wrightbus, who are helping the transition to Net Zero,. International fintech and data firms, a number of which announced hundreds of millions of pounds of new investment just two weeks ago.

And Northern Ireland is also playing a vital role in UK defence not least with the return of shipbuilding to Belfast - three new vessels for the Royal Navy -  thanks to Navantia's purchase of Harland and Wolff.

And the deal announced by the Prime Minister earlier this year to supply Ukraine with more than 5,000 air defence missiles to help them repel the Russian invasion - missiles made by Thales in Castlereagh.

And all of this is underpinned by stability.

The stability brought by the Good Friday Agreement.

The stability of security thanks to the huge efforts made by the brave officers of the PSNI and the emergency services to keep people safe, as I saw in Ballymena after the terrible racist disorder - and that is what it was - earlier this year.

And the political stability that the Northern Ireland Executive has forged by getting on with the task.

I want to acknowledge the leadership of the First and deputy First Minister, and all the members of the Executive. Compulsory coalition isn't easy, but they are showing how they can deliver for Northern Ireland.

And what is our Labour government doing to help?

A record financial settlement over the next three years - the largest since devolution.

Funding Northern Ireland above its level of relative need.

On top of this, £46m a year of UK Government funding to support Local Growth.

£30m announced last month for Northern Ireland's science and tech sectors.

The investment that will come through our new defence industrial strategy.

And taking all the steps necessary to strengthen Northern Ireland's place in the UK internal market.

And in May, following the trade deals with the United States of America and India, we reached a new agreement with the European Union.

Now Conference, the Tories' Brexit deal actually made it harder to trade with our biggest, nearest and most important trading partner, and it created a unique problem in Northern Ireland. The Windsor Framework, to which we are committed, seeks to deal with this, but be in no doubt that an SPS agreement with the EU will benefit firms and consumers across the United Kingdom, and in Northern Ireland, by cutting red tape on the movement of food and drink products.

And while we've been getting on with all of this, what does Nigel Farage say?

He wants to scrap the whole deal with the European Union.  

Extraordinary.

Damage to the economy, damage to businesses - simply because of a destructive ideology.

And inexplicable to firms and farmers who can't wait for this new agreement to take effect.

And that's not all.

Conference, the Good Friday Agreement enabled Northern Ireland to move away from the bloody and brutal trauma of the Troubles towards peace and progress.

It was - without doubt - the greatest achievement of the last Labour Government.

It took courage. It took patient negotiation.

And yet what does Nigel Farage want to do? He actually wants to undermine the Good Friday Agreement by walking away from the European Convention on Human Rights.

And after all that the people of Northern Ireland have been through, I cannot think of anything more irresponsible.

It's wrong, it's reckless and we have got to make sure that it never, ever happens.

And how do we do that?

By taking on Reform - for their revelling in grievance, their relentless desire to divide and their willingness to tear things down.

And by us, Conference, standing together and getting on with the things we promised so we can put our case to the people at the next election.

Now Conference, dealing with the legacy of the Troubles is hard and that's why for so long it has been the unfinished business of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Tories' Legacy Act was roundly rejected by victims and the courts in Northern Ireland.

We need to help those families who lost loved ones in Northern Ireland and right across the United Kingdom - including over 200 military families - who are still searching for answers.

A fortnight ago, the Tánaiste Simon Harris and I announced an agreement on a UK-Ireland joint framework.

The Irish government will legislate to ensure full cooperation with a reformed Legacy Commission, and I will soon bring forward legislation to implement our manifesto commitment to repeal and replace the Legacy Act.

And we will also introduce rights and protections - never included in the Tories' legislation - that will apply to any Northern Ireland veteran.

After all, our veterans sacrificed so much to protect the people of Northern Ireland and to help bring about that peace.  

I want also to say this about all the families who have shared with me - before I became the Northern Ireland Secretary and since - their stories of grief, and loss and unimaginable pain about what happened to those they loved so much.

When we hear those stories - and they remain with us always - we have a responsibility to do everything that we can to help those who have waited so long for the truth.

And now a way forward is - finally - within our grasp.

Conference, the story of Labour governments of the past – of which we are now so rightly proud - and the story of this government when it comes to be written in the years ahead are about what we achieved in the face of adversity.

Everything that is worthwhile involves effort, determination and never, ever giving up.

After all, just remember from whence we have come.  

1945. Clem Attlee.

Debt was well over 200% of GDP…rationing continued after the war… there was an energy crisis… the  freezing cold winter of 1947…and yet that Labour government created the National Health Service, legislated to preserve beauty for posterity through the National Parks Act and helped to establish NATO which to this day remains the bedrock of our security.

1964… Harold Wilson's great victory and a Labour government that changed society for the better …the first Sex and Race Equality legislation…. the abolition of capital punishment…..Equal Pay….. the Open University that has given so many people - so many people - the opportunity to bring out the talent that is within each of us to illuminate our world.

Go forward to 1997. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. So, so much achieved including that Good Friday Agreement.  

And now the Government of 2024 and our Prime Minister Keir Starmer.  

We know that we are - once again - living in tough and difficult times but our history teaches us that we have succeeded before and we will, Conference, do so again.

Because, while Reform are only interested in destruction and division, Labour governments are always about building things and making people's lives better.

That is the very essence of the Labour Party.

To think about the future and to give people hope.

And, as we do so, from time to time, we should just look back at those achievements of 1945, and 1964, and 1997 and those we have started now. Why? Because they give us the courage to go on and do more.

So Conference be of good heart and be of good cheer.

Because believe you me, in the years to come people will too say of this government that we changed the country for the better so that a brighter future might be bequeathed to those will come after us.

Conference, thank you.