British chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown has made it clear that if, as expected, he succeeds Tony Blair as prime minister, he will adhere to the peace process commitments set by the British and Irish governments.
On a visit to Northern Ireland yesterday, where he met political, security and business chiefs, Mr Brown held to the British prime minister's insistence that the November 24th deadline for striking a deal to restore devolution must be met.
He also repeated that the British government remained absolutely committed to the 1998 Belfast Agreement, which was negotiated in talks led by Mr Blair and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
After talks with the DUP, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP and Alliance at Stormont yesterday, Mr Brown was adamant that he would not be deviating from current policy.
"I have been able to say to them that the whole of the government attaches huge importance to the Good Friday agreement and the principles underlying it. And we regard the deadline of November 24th as one that is real, and one that we must meet," he said.
At a press conference in Parliament Buildings, he made repeated references to the late November target date. "This is not a date plucked out of the air. This is a real deadline and a deadline we expect to be met," he said.
"I also said to all of them that the principles underlying the Good Friday agreement were those that the government supported and continued to support. And I think I left the message with every political party that I met that we are determined to move forward to restore the [Northern] Executive," added Mr Brown.
"And at the same time, we as a treasury are determined to do what we can economically to give backing to the peace process," he said.
Mr Brown was making his day-long Northern Ireland visit a week ahead of another visit to the North by Mr Blair and Mr Ahern to try to inject some momentum to the protracted and tortuous talks involving the political parties and the two governments.
The parties also discussed with the chancellor economic issues, including maintaining a special "peace dividend" for Northern Ireland, the imposition of water charges, freezing industrial rates bills, and providing funding for a new police training college at Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
Mr Brown was pressed by the parties to make concessions on corporation tax to bring it in line, or more in line, with the 12½ per cent rate in the South. The DUP went further, urging Mr Brown to make corporation tax in the North, now at 30 per cent, lower than the rate in the Republic.
Confidants of Mr Brown say he is very reluctant to make such a concession on corporation tax. He made no specific commitments yesterday on the issue, other than a general pledge to act to help improve the Northern economy, which is heavily dependent on the public sector.
