Theresa Villiers 'thrilled' to get NI secretary of state job

New Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has said she feels honoured to have been given the job.

The former transport minister replaced Owen Paterson in Prime Minister David Cameron's first major restructuring since the coalition government came to power in 2010.

Ms Villiers told the BBC she wanted to "hit the ground running".

"I'm really thrilled to be given this job to do by the prime minister," she said.

"It's such an honour and it's going to be a fascinating job.

"I'm getting stuck into hard work right from the beginning."

Asked about recent trouble which followed marches in north Belfast, Ms Villiers said it was "absolutely crucial" that people abide by the Parades Commission's decisions.

While the issue of parading is still overseen by Westminster, Ms Villiers said: "We've always been open to a devolved solution for the Parades Commission.

"In the absence of that, it's vitally important that people obey the Parades Commission's decisions, otherwise we get those scenes which are so damaging to Northern Ireland."

She added: "The right thing for me to do now is to listen to those in the Northern Ireland Executive and others in the community about what they believe the solutions are."