Baroness Sue Gray, who was formerly Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has expressed fears for the future of Stormont.
The Labour peer previously worked as a senior civil servant in both Whitehall and in Northern Ireland. She once missed out on becoming the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
She was the author of the party-gate investigation report into social gatherings at Downing Street under the last Conservative government during Covid lockdowns and went to become a key member of Sir Keir’s team when he first took office as Prime Minister.
Baroness Gray later quit the role in October 2024 after weeks of reports of infighting in Number 10 and headlines about her salary. She was elevated to the House Lords four months later.
The former permanent secretary at Stormont’s Department of Finance was in Belfast on Thursday to take part in an event organised by the SDLP that examined relations between the island of Ireland and Britain and prospect of future constitutional change.
In her contribution, she made a case for greater collaboration between Whitehall and the devolved administrations in the UK.
“I think there is a feeling, and I felt this when I was in the Department of Finance, you know, my colleagues, they were my colleagues in the UK government, there were people that I would have sat down with before I’d come here, and I would go back and sit down with, and, you know, I wasn’t involved in discussions,” she said.
“I would get a phone call on the morning of a new policy with some funding.
“How that could have been so different if the devolved government had sat round that table and had contributed to that discussion, and I do think that is something that we need to do more of.”
The peer also expressed concern about how devolved government was currently functioning at Stormont.
“I do fear for Stormont, and I do think that people here deserve action and decisions, and that is a joint responsibility across many people,” she said.
Baroness Gray advocated introducing a “metro mayor” model across the devolved regions to give city authorities more powers to take decisions. In Northern Ireland, she suggested metro mayors for Belfast and Londonderry.
She also voiced support for Andy Burnham’s reported plan to move part of the Downing Street operation to Manchester if he becomes prime minister.
“I do think actually taking and just establishing an office outside Downing Street, outside London and the South East, sends a really powerful signal,” she said.
“It sends a very powerful signal to government departments who, you know, do think everything happens in Whitehall and London.”
Baroness Gray said she hoped Mr Burnham was equipped to see off the challenge posed by Reform UK.
She told the event at the MAC in Belfast: “If Andy is the successor (to Sir Keir), I think that his experience, not just in actually, you know, working in Manchester, he’s also worked in Whitehall previously and held Secretary of State positions, so he can bring a lot of experience to the fore.”
