Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly to attend first meeting of new East-West Council

The First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly are travelling to London to take part in the first meeting of the newly formed UK East West Council.

The plans for the council were set out in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper published by the government in January ahead of the DUP’s decision to return to power-sharing.

Speaking ahead of the first meeting, the deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly welcomed the East West Council and suggested if it had existed earlier, the collapse of Stormont in recent years may have been avoided.

“We have those structures that were set up under the Belfast Good Friday agreement of the British Irish Council and the North South Ministerial Council, where we actually didn't have a structure which looked across the United Kingdom," she said.

“I think, importantly, it provides a forum for us to address issues as they emerge and before they get to a crisis point.

"When I look back over the course of the last seven years I honestly do believe that these issues could have been resolved at a much earlier stage … and if we had had a forum to raise these concerns … then I think we could have avoided some of what happened so I think it's an incredibly important move.”

The Government’s command paper describes the East West Council as a 'unique new forum across the United Kingdom … to identify opportunities for deepening connections between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK in areas such as trade, transport, education and culture'.

The First and deputy First Ministers will be joined by other Stormont ministers at the meeting as will the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris.

Also speaking before travelling to the meeting in London, the First Minister Michelle O’Neill said: “I'm really glad that we're going to have all these opportunities to work across the institutions in the north, across the island, across our two islands, because that's the trick in making our politics work.

"So I'm determined to try to participate in all these forums to try to get the best because ultimately, we're elected to serve the people here and whatever works in terms of trying to improve people's lives. I'm all for that."

Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, Michael Gove, will chair the first meeting of the new East-West Council.

“The creation of the East-West Council was an important part of the agreement that helped restore devolved government to Northern Ireland earlier this year," he said.

"I am pleased that we have been able to hold the inaugural meeting in the early part of 2024.

"The Government is committed to working with our partners in the Northern Ireland Executive and across the UK to address shared challenges and opportunities including with an East-West dimension.”

The idea of an East West Council was first mentioned publicly by the DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson at his party conference last October.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the North South Ministerial Council was established to bring together ministers from the Irish Government and the Stormont Executive to build relations and communication between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

However, the NSMC has not met since July 2021 when DUP ministers began to boycott the meetings in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

A meeting of the North South Ministerial Council is now scheduled to take place in April.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.