Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant’s speech to Labour Party Conference 2026

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant's speech to Labour Party Conference 2026.

"Conference. Northern Ireland has been in the news again this week.

You think I'm talking about the situation in Drumcree. That's why I was in Belfast yesterday and I'll be flying back again this afternoon. I won't even be here for the Leader's speech.

I had wanted to stand up here and boast about the news that Northern Ireland has the fastest economic growth of anywhere in the UK. And the lowest unemployment. 

I wanted to shout out that Northern Ireland is being transformed. 1,000 new jobs at Bank of America. We're building drones for Ukraine, wings for Airbus and 30% of the world's commercial aircraft seats.  

We excel at cyber security, AI, life sciences, music and film and high-end television. We produce a fifth of the UK's eggs and a tenth of all our food.

And we are open to business like nowhere else on earth, with unique dual access to two enormous markets. The UK and the European Union.

Our potential is enormous. We just need to harness it.

That's the speech I wanted to give.

But the situation in Drumcree is tense and this Government, like every Labour Government, will always go the extra mile for peace.

That's precisely what I'll be doing this afternoon. Bringing both sides together, talking to everyone, bridging sectarian divides and giving compromise a chance, because nobody, nobody, nobody wants Northern Ireland to return to the 1990s. That's not going to be easy. As the last few days have shown. It's really easy to stir up a grievance. Much harder to calm it down. 

Which is why I appeal to everyone. Believe in Northern Ireland. And double down on compromise.

Conference there's something we don't say enough in the United Kingdom.

Thank you for your service.

I say this especially as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

To the 300,000 and more men and women who served in Northern Ireland in our armed forces in Operation Banner thank you for your service.

To the often terrified eighteen and nineteen-year-olds who turned up during the Troubles desperate to hold their nerve and to keep the peace thank you for your service.

To the police officers who never knew whether they would return home at the end of the day.

To the prison officers and the firefighters.

Thank you for your service.

To the doctors and nurses who staunched the blood, bound the wounds, and healed their patients, regardless of their background.

To those who witnessed violence up close. The children who saw their parents killed. The clergy and undertakers who led the funerals. The social workers who found homes for those who'd lost parents. And the council staff who literally gathered up the body parts in plastic bags.

Thank you for your service.

I say again. Nobody wants Northern Ireland to return to the 1990s, which is why we also owe an immense debt of gratitude to those who showed phenomenal courage across the political spectrum 28 years ago, arguing for peace when another round of violence beckoned. 

David Trimble, John Hume, Alf Dubs, Paul Murphy, Mo Mowlam, John Major, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair. Thank you for your service.

They delivered peace against the odds. They were political titans who had the courage to persuade their own people of difficult arguments for the greater good.

Conference, that's leadership. Real leadership. The kind of leadership we need in every generation.

Including this one now.

It's why I have this warning for Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch. They say they'll bin the European Convention on Human Rights. They've clearly never read the Good Friday Agreement. Ormaybe they don't care about it. 

Conference, I promise you this, we will not dump the European Convention on Human Rights, we will stand by it.

And we won't tear up the Good Friday Agreement. We'll stand by that, too.

But conference, there is unfinished business from the Good Friday Agreement.

The need for compromise meant that the many thousands who had lost a loved one were told justice had to wait for another day. They had to let it lie.

They have suffered silently ever since, agonising about what really happened, calming their feelings of anger and revenge, and showing grace and fortitude despite it all. 

All they wanted was to know what really happened. They didn't complain, because no matter what they wanted for themselves, they knew that peace with others was better.

We owe them answers.

One son told me he sees the man he knows murdered his father every time he goes to the supermarket. But that has never even been acknowledged. Another told me he gave up his college music course to follow his brother into the army, who had been murdered and he still doesn't know who killed his brother and why he died. 

One woman told me she's still seeking answers for her brother - a soldier killed in the M62 bombing. Another lost three relatives and still has no answers.

Just imagine the trauma people are still living with - because there has never been a proper mechanism for getting the answers they need.

Conference it was wrong that it took decades to get answers for Hillsborough. And it's wrong that so many families, including more than a thousand veterans' families, are still waiting for answers in Northern Ireland.

That's why I promise that this Government will finally deliver on the unfinished business of the Good Friday Agreement, creating a reformed Legacy Commission so families in Northern Ireland and in Great Britain can get the answers they have so long sought. 

That won't be easy or comfortable. It requires candour, honesty and openness. 

Which is precisely what the Government's Troubles Bill is all about. Of course, we must make sure that our veterans aren't constantly dragged through the courts unnecessarily.

Repeating a process is reliving it and we should have the highest bar possible before we ask anybody to do that.

And of course there is no equivalence between the lawful actions of our brave armed forces and the deliberate acts of terrorists. We will say that in black and white in the Bill.

That's why I pay tribute to my great friend Hilary Benn. He started this process because he knew you cannot build a strong edifice on weak foundations. And you can't shape our future without understanding our past.   

Conference, when I was appointed as Secretary of State, the BBC headline ran, will colourful Sir Chris Bryant shake up Stormont?' Number one, I don't know what they meant by colourful'  oh you can work it out, can you? But just for the avidance of doubt, yes I am ever so lightly homosexual

You're really not meant to laugh at someone saying that they're gay in this day and age! But anyway

Number two, much more importantly, yes absolutely we need to shake up Stormont.

It's crying out for change. Six months into the financial year, it's still not got a settled budget. And every single councillor in this room knows that's not normal.

And no one, at least in private, disagrees that there needs to be urgent institutional reform in Northern Ireland.

Of course I want to do this cross-party, with the broadest possible consensus.

But I want to take a leaf out of Mo Mowlam's book. Neil Kinnock once said of Mo, that if she had a fault, it was that sometimes she enters a room without opening the door first.

Too right, Mo. We need a few more like you. Can do' people who are impatient enough to tear off their wig and challenge everyone else to double down on compromise.

So look, I say to everyone in Northern Ireland politics, come on folks, work with me.' 

Or even better, work with each other and with me. Let's do something remarkable. Strike deals across the party divide. Rise to the challenge. Set aside private gripes for the common good because we can achieve far more by our common endeavour than we can by going alone.

That way we can build a stronger, more united future for Northern Ireland in which it doesn't matter what team you support, what language you speak, what band you play in, whether you hate Abba or love bingo or keep your toaster in the cupboard 

Because Northern Ireland is a place where everyone should get a chance to get on. Then every young apprentice, every trainee nurse, every small business owner, every plumber and plasterer, every teacher and scientist, every farmer and programmer would be able to shout out at the tops of their lungs:

Thank you for your service, thank you for your service, thank you for your service.'

And we're part of a team and we're about to go to Belfast. Thank you."