Sunday shows round-up: Sinn Fein First Minister vows to be a ‘unifier’

Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill made history this week as she became Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister. Speaking to David Blevins on Sky News, she described herself as a ‘proud Republican’, but insisted that she ‘wants to be a unifier’. Blevins asked her about her ambitions for Irish unity, pointing out that the UK government has said that there is ‘no realistic prospect of a border poll leading to a united Ireland’, and that Northern Ireland will be part of the UK for decades. O’Neill contested this claim, saying her appointment meant she had a mandate from the public, and described the near future as a ‘decade of opportunity’ for Irish unity.

Education Secretary wobbles on childcare targets

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan spoke to Trevor Phillips on Sky News about her pledge to provide new free childcare hours. Phillips pointed out that providers were saying they would need around 100,000 more staff over the next couple of years to meet the target, and asked if Keegan could guarantee her pledge would be met. Keegan said it was impossible to ‘guarantee something in the future’ and that she was ‘not in control of all the bits’. However she did claim to be ‘very very confident’ that the plan would be delivered. 

Keegan: ‘It is quite radical to ban smartphones from under-16s’

Esther Ghey, the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, gave an interview with Laura Kuenssberg in which she called for more stringent restrictions from the government to protect children from harmful content online. Kuenssberg asked Gillian Keegan about Ghey’s suggestion that under-16s only have access to child-safe mobile phones. Keegan said that there were child-safe phones available, but claimed it was too radical to ban children from using phones. She also said that the impact of new steps the government has taken, such as the Online Safety Act, had yet to be seen by parents.

Chris Bryant: Labour ‘absolutely committed to a proper House of Lords’

Trevor Phillips asked Labour’s Chris Bryant about a report in the Observer that Labour were scaling back pledges to make their policies ‘bombproof’ to Tory attacks. In particular, Phillips questioned whether Labour were changing their mind on reforming the House of Lords. Bryant said that Labour wanted to be a ‘credible government’ that delivered on its promises. He claimed Labour were not watering down its plans, but were committed to a ‘proper House of Lords’, despite Keir Starmer previously promising to abolish it.