\n<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in MLA Pat Sheehan said personalities were “irrelevant” regarding the appointment of the new secretary of state and that policy needed to change.<\/p>\n
“The name plates may change around the British cabinet table,” he said. <\/p>\n
“What’s important for us is that policy changes and particularly in regard to the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, specifically in terms of preparing for a referendum on Irish unity,” he said.<\/p>\n
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston told the Nolan Show<\/a> that Sir Chris must be a “secretary of state that is willing to repair the damage done by the Irish sea border”.<\/p>\n “What we have seen in the past, over the last number of months is that he is unsympathetic to doing anything about that.”<\/p>\n Gaston cited Sir Chris’s previous role as minster for trade, when new steel tariffs were introduced earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shaun Woodward, a former Labour MP who served as Northern Ireland secretary in 2009-10, said he has known Sir Chris for more than 25 years.<\/p>\n “He is the kind of secretary of state Northern Ireland needs, I think it is a very astute appointment by the prime minister,” he said.<\/p>\n Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme<\/a>, Woodward said Bryant “is a very fair minded person”, adding he is a “fast learner, a very smart guy”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n