Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has announced he will not stand at the next general election.

Heaton-Harris, who has served in the role since September 2022, made known his intentions in a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 

He posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, late on Saturday night to his 36,000 followers announcing his decision.

He wrote: 'It's been an honour and a privilege to serve and I'd like to thank the good people of Daventry, @theresa_may @borisjohnson @trussliz @RishiSunak for putting their trust in me.

'I started as a campaigner and I'll be out campaigning for @Conservatives at the next election because we are the only party that has and can deliver for the whole of the United Kingdom.'

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has announced he will not stand at the next general election

Heaton-Harris then posted the full letter he presented to Rishi Sunak earlier on Saturday. 

Looking back over his 24-year career in politics, he wrote: 'Working with you I helped negotiate and deliver the Windsor Framework, which both solved many of the major practical issues created by the Northern Ireland Protocol, put in place as we left the EU, and helped reset our countries' relationship with our European neighbours.

'Then, after long and detailed negotiations within Northern Ireland, we produced the command paper Safeguarding the Union, which resulted in the return of Stormont and devolved government to serve the people of Northern Ireland.'

'I strongly believe the conditions now exist for Northern Ireland to thrive, with privileged access for manufactured goods into the EU single market, whilst being an integral part of our UK internal market and being able to benefit from the international trade deals we negotiate.'

He added: 'It [Northern Ireland] finds itself in a remarkable favourable position - and as Northern Ireland thrives, our union will strengthen.' 

The veteran politician went on to thank those he has worked alongside, as well as his constituents, 'who have continually put their trust in me and have, without fail, been way ahead of the Westminster bubble in determining which issues actually really matter.' 

This is a breaking news story. More follows. 

Heaton-Harris posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, late on Saturday night to his 36,000 followers announcing his decision

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