A Border poll on a united Ireland is “off the table”, Andy Burnham has said on his first visit to Northern Ireland as UK prime minister.
“I am here to listen and to collaborate but some issues will be off the table, and that is one of them,” he said in response to a question from The Irish Times.
“I see how referenda can really take you backwards because it turns people in on themselves and arguing with other, and cause rifts that take a long, long time to heal.”
Instead of a referendum on a united Ireland, politicians should be focusing on issues such as the cost of living, a budget and making people’s lives better, Burnham said.
READ MORE
“I don’t want to be in a position where we are turning backwards, where politics takes over and people’s lives are put on hold as a result.”
Burnham also reaffirmed the British government’s commitment to deal with the legacy issues through the Troubles Bill. The Bill would be brought back to parliament in the autumn, he said.
“To abandon it would be the wrong thing to do. There are families here, there are obviously veterans and their families, there are lots of people and their families seeking answers and it’s right to put in place a legislative framework that will allow the [Legacy] Commission to do its work, to provide answers to people who are looking for them,” he said.
“That is the approach I took over Hillsborough and it is something that means a great deal to me. I don’t think anybody gains from leaving people without the truth.”
He urged Stormont politicians to engage in “problem-solving, not points scoring”.
As part of his half-day trip Burnham met First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party, and other party leaders from Alliance, the Ulster Unionist Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
Finance is one of the key issues of the party leaders. Despite a deadline of early April this year the Stormont Executive has failed to agree a budget with politicians claiming there is a shortfall of £1.6 billion (€1.9 billion).
In advance of the meeting, O’Neill said Burnham needed “to actually deliver in terms of getting a fair budget settlement that actually works for public services”.
“If Andy Burnham wants to make a difference, then he can make a difference by actually changing the funding arrangement. What we have currently does not cut it, does not work,” she said.
Burnham said he wanted to help resolve the budget issue but gave no detailed commitment on how that might be done or no promise of additional cash.
Asked would the British treasury “bail out” Stormont, he said: “I don’t think I can give you a hard yes or no answer to that question today. I don’t think it’s unfair of the treasury to say: Why is the budget in the position that it is in? Is there something that could be done to do things differently, to make some savings?”
He said it was legitimate of the treasury to create “fiscal discipline in all part of the UK”. Equally he said he did not want things to drift and wanted to help in moving “Northern Ireland forward”.
Before meeting the politicians Burnham travelled to the Oh Yeah Music Centre in the Cathedral Quarter of central Belfast where he met young people to discuss problemsconfronting them. He also visited a recording studio at the centre where he met The Florentinas band from Bangor who recently won a recording contract.
“People in Northern Ireland want more breathing space from the cost of living, good, well-paid jobs and opportunities for their children,” he said.
“Political point-scoring in the past has made this harder, not easier. We need to be better, so I want to work with the Northern Ireland Executive and the main political parties to try and make a real difference to communities here, and that’s the message I’ll be taking into my meetings later.”
This visit is described as part of his “summer tour of the United Kingdom”. Earlier on Thursday, in Wales, he announced that in October he will convene the first ministers of Wales and Scotland, and the First and Deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland to discuss how “we will drive good growth in every postcode across the UK”.
