BARONESS GRAY FEARS FOR STORMONT OVER SLOW DECISION-MAKING

Baroness Sue Gray, former chief of staff to Sir Keir Starmer, has stated she "fears for Stormont" and accused Northern Ireland's power-sharing institutions of making decisions too slowly due to bureaucratic processes. Gray said people in Northern Ireland "deserve action and decisions" and called for reforms to accelerate governance. She made the remarks at a panel event organised by the Social Democratic and Labour Party, which examined constitutional change alongside the ten-year anniversary of the Brexit referendum.

Gray, a former civil servant who worked in Northern Ireland before leaving in 2020, proposed that the region should establish multiple metro mayors with enhanced authority over regional decisions, similar to structures in England. She suggested at least two such positions—one in Belfast and one in Londonderry—to enable faster decision-making at local level. Gray served as Boris Johnson's principal advisor on the union and later joined Sir Keir Starmer's government following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, though she departed after several months amid disputes regarding her salary as chief of staff.

At the same event, Jim O'Callaghan, Irish justice minister, stated he would have "no issue" with the Police Service of Northern Ireland being retained in the event of Irish unification. O'Callaghan said he continued to see benefits in maintaining two separate police forces on the island of Ireland if voters chose unification. He indicated that an Irish unity referendum could occur before the decade's end if political circumstances in Great Britain changed during that period.