Restoring Stormont is our top priority

Twenty years after the Good Friday Agreement, devolved government is vital to Northern Ireland

There is no doubt that the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, reached on April 10 1998, was an achievement of historic magnitude. It was a day when politics triumphed over the devastation that had torn Northern Ireland apart since the outbreak of the Troubles in the late Sixties. Tomorrow, I will join a number of figures involved in the agreement to mark the 20th anniversary.

To put the agreement in its proper context, it is worth recalling something of what Northern Ireland had been through in the two decades that preceded it. More than 3,500 men and women lost their lives, with thousands more maimed and injured. Terrorism was a daily fact of life, as was the security presence necessary to counter it. Politics was bitterly divided. Attracting investment and jobs to the province was a struggle.

During this period, the resilience of the people of Northern Ireland was quite remarkable, as was the contribution and professionalism of the security forces. They had the support of successive governments determined that violence would never succeed and that Northern Ireland’s future would only ever be determined by democracy and consent.

The agreement itself was the result of years of painstaking work, begun by John Major and Albert Reynolds in the early Nineties and taken to its conclusion by Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern in 1998. The process was supported by successive US administrations, with special recognition due to Bill Clinton and George Mitchell. Yet there would have been no agreement without the courageous leadership of Northern Ireland’s politicians, on all sides, who took great risks for peace. Their ability to reach that accommodation should continue to inspire all of us today.

The UK Government’s commitment to the agreement and its successors remains steadfast. We will continue to uphold its provisions in full: the principle that there can be no change in the status of Northern Ireland without the consent of a majority of its people; inclusive devolved government; Northsouth cooperation and the strongest bilateral relationship between the UK and Ireland; and those matters relating to people’s rights, culture and identity.

Nobody should be in any doubt. This Conservative Government will stand firm behind an agreement which, along with its successors, has been the bedrock of all that has been achieved over the past 20 years. Everything we do will have as its core aims the protection and implementation of the agreement, including, of course, as we leave the European Union.

Largely as a result of the agreement, Northern Ireland today is a place transformed. While the threat from a small number of dissidents remains real, the security situation is vastly improved from the dark days of the Troubles. The economy is growing strongly, with unemployment at a record low, below the UK average. More than 900 foreign companies have invested in the province and exports are worth £10.1 billion.

Tourism is booming, with Northern Ireland named as the world’s number one place to visit in 2018. The iconic Titanic Belfast is the world’s top tourist attraction and we are home to the world’s most popular TV show, Game of Thrones.

Major challenges remain. Northern Ireland society is still too divided and we need to do more to promote a genuinely shared future. The malign influence of paramilitary groups, particularly in working-class communities, needs to be tackled relentlessly. Economically, we are far too dependent on public spending. We still need to address the legacy of the past.

Yet progress in each of these areas will be much better supported with something that Northern Ireland has now been without for a year – a fully functioning, local administration as set out in the agreement. The restoration of devolved government at Stormont must be our number one priority.

I still believe that this is achievable and, as we reflect on the anniversary of the 1998 agreement, all of us need to redouble our efforts to make it a reality. Only then, with all parts of the agreement working properly, will we be in a position to build a Northern Ireland that is fit for the future. That is our goal and we are determined to achieve it.

Karen Bradley is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland