improve its services, after statistics were published revealing that rail services across Bexley Borough had worsened throughout 2013. Minister of State for Security and Immigration (1st term) Brokenshire assumed the enlarged role of Minister for Security and Immigration on 8 February 2014 following the resignation of Mark Harper. Northern Ireland Secretary In July 2016, under Theresa May's new cabinet, Brokenshire was appointed the Northern Ireland Secretary. On 16 January 2017, the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed following the resignation of Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister one week earlier in protest of the DUP's handling of the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. Brokenshire, as Northern Ireland Secretary, temporarily assumed the powers of the Executive and called for snap elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which took place on 2 March 2017. Brokenshire's comments in The Sunday Telegraph of 28 January 2017 sparked consternation in Northern Ireland: Writing in the Telegraph, James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland Secretary, concedes there is an apparent "imbalance" that has led to a "disproportionate" focus on criminal inquiries involving former soldiers. "I am clear the current system is not working and we are in danger of seeing the past rewritten." Following a question from MP Sylvia Hermon, Brokenshire offered his "clear and unequivocal" support for the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan. Sir Declan had earlier criticised Brokenshire for refusing funding for cases and thereby adding to case backlogs when Brokenshire refused to grant £10 million to pay for an inquest into the deaths of eleven civilians shot dead by British forces in 1971 in the Ballymurphy massacre. Brian Feeney in The Irish News accused Brokenshire of "ineptitude ... [though] no one would give him the credit of even being aware of the coincidence of the date he chose, when British soldiers killed most innocent victims in Ireland." (Bloody Sunday), while the Belfast Telegraph editorial accused the minister of "playing a dangerous game". Brokenshire resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary on 8 January 2018 on health grounds due to an upcoming lung operation. On 20 January 2018 it was announced that he had the operation and had been discharged from hospital. In September 2019, Brokenshire said that his best piece of advice to people becoming Northern Ireland Secretary was to "get yourself a history book and read it." Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary In April 2018, Brokenshire was appointed Secretary of State for Housing, Communities