Sir Keir Starmer: PM meets political leaders at Stormont

Sir Keir Starmer, had had talks with political leaders at Stormont during his first visit to Northern Ireland as Prime Minister.

Accompanied by Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, he was greeted by First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Deputy First Minister, Emma Little Pengelly.

Also during his visit he met with Mary Lou McDonald who said her party had a "very constructive, very friendly" meeting.

Alongside Ms O'Neill, Ms McDonald said: "We have discussed with him all of the issues of concern and also the opportunities that now present themselves.

"Clearly the issues around the financial sustainability of the north, the financing of public services is a matter of concern for all of us.

"Issues around the legacy legislation. We very much welcome the commitment to repeal that.

"We also welcome the very firm assurances in respect of Casement Park and we expect to see progress on that matter in the near future."

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he talked to the Prime Minister about the ongoing financial challenges facing people in Northern Ireland.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Robinson said: "We had the opportunity not only to talk to him about the importance of devolution in Northern Ireland but the political process itself and the need for a proactive British Government to carefully nurture relationships within Northern Ireland.

"We talked to him about the ongoing challenges to deliver for people of Northern Ireland."

Mr Robinson said it had been a "productive discussion".

He added: "He has the opportunity to make significant changes and advance things positively."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer understands Northern Ireland.

Mr Eastwood said: "I think lots of people have given a bit of a collective sigh of relief that we've seen the back of the Tory party from government here, 14 years of destroying our public services, 14 years of destroying the economy and family finances.

"This seems like a new dawn and we are very happy that the Labour Party have now taken over control of the British Government.

"Keir Starmer is somebody who gets it, he understands this place, he has been here many times, he worked here and he knew the issues before we even raised them.

"Even saying that, we still raised them. This place needs more money to function, our health service is at the point of collapse and can't survive much longer without a proper injection of funding.

"We also talked about the issue of Casement Park which needs to be built and needs to be built as soon as possible."

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said he had raised issues about the funding of public services in Northern Ireland with the new Prime Minister.

Mr Beattie said: "It was a short 10 minutes with the Prime Minister.

"We see it as the opportunity to build relationships, we already have good relationships with the Prime Minister's team.

"We absolutely ensured that he knew that we see a fundamental problem in the funding model for our public services, in particular health.

"We have already reached out to Labour representatives with regards to how do we improve the outcomes in health."