Debate contribution: St Andrews Agreement: 20 Years On

Debate contribution by Mr Phillip Brett on 13 October 2026.

MLA: Mr Phillip Brett
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 13 October 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Opposition Business
Heading: St Andrews Agreement: 20 Years On
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5789557

Text

I oppose the amendment and the motion. It is telling that the Belfast Agreement seems to be whatever anyone wants it to be. Last week, we had Richie Neal once again claim that the United States of America was a co-guarantor of the Belfast Agreement. We had the SDLP tell us that the European Union was a co-guarantor of the Belfast Agreement. Now we have the Ulster Unionist Party continuing a trope and deliberate deception about the Belfast Agreement. It is telling that the Member would not give way when I asked him to. Not one Member who has spoken has been able to articulate or read out where the Belfast Agreement or the Northern Ireland Act states that the largest party from the largest designation should hold the position of First Minister. I read the piece in today's 'News Letter' by Reg Empey, a man who claims that he was a negotiator of the Belfast Agreement yet does not even seem to know what is in the very agreement that he negotiated. Perhaps the unionist electorate rejected the Ulster Unionist Party because it did not know what it had negotiated. I will read paragraph 15 from strand one of the Belfast Agreement into the record:
"The First Minister and Deputy First Minister shall be jointly elected into office by the Assembly voting on a cross-community basis, according to 5(d)(i) above."
Paragraph 5(d)(i) refers to:
"parallel consent, i.e. a majority of those members present and voting, including a majority of the unionist and nationalist designations present and voting".
That was then incorporated into the Northern Ireland Act. It was said:
"two candidates standing jointly will not be elected to hold the two offices without the support of a majority of the Members voting in the election, a majority of the designated Nationalists voting and a majority of the designated Unionists voting."
Where does the agreement state that the leader of the largest party of the largest designation should be First Minister? Nowhere. The Ulster Unionist Party has just plucked that from the sky. Every couple of years, it takes Reg Empey out of deep freeze to put out that line again. It is utter nonsense, and the Ulster Unionist Party needs to stop being deliberately deceptive on the issue. In 2003, the DUP made it clear that it would campaign for a fair deal for the people for Northern Ireland that reflected the concerns of unionists and nationalists equally. The people of Northern Ireland and the unionist community put their trust in this party. We did not pluck our mandate from the sky. It came from people across Northern Ireland who believed in our vision and our determination to change the Belfast Agreement, and we changed the Belfast Agreement. We ensured that Ministers could not longer go on solo runs. The late Martin McGuinness tried to scrap academic selection. It is back now, thanks to the DUP, but he was able to do that in negotiation with the Ulster Unionist Party. North/South structures, which are accountable to this place, were previously not so under the Ulster Unionist Party. I say this kindly to the Ulster Unionist Party: perhaps if you reflect on the fact that the people of Northern Ireland gave their mandate to the DUP because we wanted to deliver a fair deal for the people of Northern Ireland rather than what you believe to be in the Belfast Agreement, you may have greater electoral success. Interestingly, I read on social media today that the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr Burrows, was coming to the Chamber to set the DUP straight, tell us how terribly we negotiated the St Andrews Agreement and set out his vision. Where is he? He is nowhere to be seen.
Perhaps he is outside on his —
I will not give way, Mr Aiken, because you did not afford me the same manners when I asked you.
That is very good; he can talk to whomever he wants. However, if he advertises that he is going to do something and then fails to do it, he can explain that to the people of Northern Ireland. Perhaps he will make up another alternative truth, as the Ulster Unionist Party does in this Chamber. My party will oppose the amendment from the Alliance Party. The fact that it believes that the Irish Government have any say on strand one issues is, frankly, remarkable. My party will not support that. We are very clear that the protections that are in place in relation to reform need to stay. Let us look at Belfast City Council to see how the unionist electorate and the unionist community are treated by Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party. You run roughshod over them and have no interest in them, and we will happily stand in this place day and daily and face you down.

817 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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