Newly appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant has said the role is “daunting” and comes with “heavy responsibility”. The Welsh-born politician said he was looking forward “to getting properly stuck in”. “There is serious work ahead, and I am ready to get on with it,” he said on Tuesday. The MP for the Welsh constituency of Rhondda and Ogmore replaced Hilary Benn in a cabinet reshuffle after Andy Burnham took office as the new UK prime minister on Monday. In a phone call with Bryant on Tuesday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee discussed the implementation of commitments made by the Irish and British governments on legacy as well as EU-UK relations and “my desire during our [EU] presidency to build on progress made over the past two years”, she said.In an interview with the BBC, Bryant said his “checklist” of issues included “economic opportunity” for young people, tackling Northern Ireland’s finances and “taking forward” the UK’s legacy legislation in a way that “works for everybody”. A Border poll on Irish reunification was “not on my list of priorities at the moment”, he said.Asked by Sky News in 2024 whether he agreed with Sinn Féin vice-president and Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill that a vote on Irish unity was “inevitable”, Bryant said he always avoided the word “because you can never predict what’s going to happen in the future ... but yes, that may come at some point”.Bryant spoke by phone with O’Neill and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald on Tuesday. In a statement issued afterwards, McDonald said both Bryant and his government “must recognise” that “political realities in Britain and Ireland are rapidly changing” and “the next part of this island’s political journey is focused on ... Irish unity”.[ What does Andy Burnham taking over as British PM mean for Northern Ireland?Opens in new window ]O’Neill said they “stressed” to Bryant that the Labour government’s approach to Northern Ireland “must change” and the Northern Executive be funded “fairly”.DUP leader Gavin Robinson told reporters on Tuesday the new Northern Secretary was “very favourable towards the European Union” and “we need to have an arrangement with our government that ensures we are not at a detriment to other parts of this United Kingdom”. Bryant was ordained as an Anglican priest but quit over the church’s stance on homosexuality. An MP since 2001 and an author of books on British history, he was a junior minister under Gordon Brown in 2008 and has held numerous shadow ministerial positions and governmental portfolios including, most recently, minister of state at the Department for Business and Trade. A prominent voice in the Remain campaign during the UK’s 2016 referendum to leave the European Union, he has a reputation for being outspoken on key issues. In 2025, during Pride Month, he told the Commons the Daily Mail had referred to him as an “ex-gay vicar ... in fact, I am a practising homosexual – one day I will be quite good at it”.He has received treatment for skin cancer, and in 2023 was knighted for his work with brain injury and melanoma charities. Additional reporting – PA