Theresa Villiers interview: investment success stands out
Secretary of State Theresa Villiers talks to Peter Cheney about her impressions of Northern Ireland after a year in post.
Twelve months into her tenure as Northern Ireland Secretary, Theresa Villiers sees Northern Ireland as having “a huge amount going for it.” Speaking to agendaNi at the Champ Ulster Fry breakfast, she reiterates that it is “a great place to live, to work, to study and to visit and invest in.”
Asked for anything that has surprised her, she replies: “How competitive Northern Ireland has been able to be in terms of inward investment. It’s talking to companies like Citigroup and New York Stock Exchange who’ve not only come to Northern Ireland [but] found that the business conditions there and the quality of staffing and employees is so good that they’ve expanded considerably.” She thinks, though, that the success story of investment is not well-known across the UK.
That said, the Secretary of State acknowledges room for improvement on the economic recovery and reconciliation.
“The economy is crucial,” Villiers remarks. “The economy in the UK is starting to turn a corner and there are signs of that in Northern Ireland as well. The recovery is more tentative. It’s undoubtedly slower than in the rest of the UK.”
Her priorities over the next year are the implementation of the Economic Pact and “pressing ahead with building a shared society” based on both the Haass talks outcome and the OFMDFM ‘Building a United Community’ strategy. She particularly wants to see more children “sharing their education with others from a different community.”
The centenary of the start of the First World War will be marked in London and Glasgow next August. “I think it’s very important that Northern Ireland’s voice and position in the plans for those centenaries are taken into account,” she remarks, “because they have such resonance.” She had been moved by the large number of local people visiting northern France for the Somme commemoration in July.
Villiers had little experience of Northern Ireland when she was appointed Secretary of State.
Political and media commentators have sometimes described Villiers as out of her depth: an inexperienced Minister dealing with a serious security challenge.
“I don’t feel that,” she responds. “I feel that it’s a crucially important job and, of course, keeping people safe and secure in Northern Ireland is a huge priority for this Government and I play a significant role in that.” Practically, this involves keeping in regular contact with David Ford and his southern counterpart Alan Shatter.
In a brief and informal speech to the Northern Ireland Conservatives, David Cameron joked that his decision to locate the G8 in Fermanagh was seen as “courageous” by officials. “They really think you’ve got it wrong” if an official says that but it turned out to be a “massive success” and “probably the best shop window you could possibly have of the beauty and brilliance and talent of the province.”
Cameron fully backed the party’s local campaigning. He candidly commented:
“I don’t think there was a big enough cultural change on the part of some in the older Ulster Unionist Party to put away the old politics and embrace the new politics but [the UCUNF pact] was an honest attempt, honestly made.”
Recalling the Queen’s visit to the Republic in 2011, Cameron noted: “It was as if some of the barriers between us melted away and we remembered all the relations and things that we feel for each other. The relations, the family ties, the economic ties, the historical ties all came back and I think that’s such a powerful thing for our future.”
