East–West Council

The East–West Council was established in 2024 as part of the Northern Ireland Executive reformation with a purpose to improve links between Northern Ireland and rest of the United Kingdom.

Purpose

According to the Government of the United Kingdom its missions include:

Sharing "best practice" between Great Britain and Northern Ireland on economic inactivity and offering advisory support to implement "major projects"
Recommending interventions on east–west investment and assessing existing funding and investment strategies
Improving international investment to Northern Ireland
Bolstering east–west connectivity

The idea of forming an East–West Council was first proposed by Democratic Unionist Party Leader Jeffrey Donaldson in October 2023 as a prerequisite to restoring a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland. Donaldson hoped that the proposed body would "bring together representatives from across the United Kingdom", on a "regular basis" to "discuss and collaborate on opportunities for enhanced co-operation". Plans for the council were outlined in a command paper published by the UK government in February 2024. Devolved government was restored in Northern Ireland on 3 February 2024 when a first minister, deputy first minister and executive were nominated by the Northern Ireland Assembly. The East–West Council met for the first time on 26 March 2024 at Dover House in London.

The council is made up of representatives from the UK central government, Northern Ireland Executive, business and civil society. It was chaired by the Minister for Intergovernmental Relations.