{"id":606888,"date":"2026-08-28T04:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T04:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/606888\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T04:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T04:38:11","slug":"mcdonald-accuses-burnham-of-burying-his-head-in-the-sand-over-border-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/606888\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald accuses Burnham of ‘burying his head in the sand’ over border poll"},"content":{"rendered":"

British prime minister Andy Burnham<\/a> has been accused of burying his head in the sand after declaring that a border poll is “off the table”.<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham made the remarks during a visit to Belfast yesterday, where he said he was “here to listen” but cautioned that “rifts” created by referendums can take years to heal, citing Brexit and Scotland’s 2014 independence vote.<\/p>\n

Under the Good Friday Agreement, the power to call a border poll rests with the secretary of state for Northern Ireland<\/a>, who is required to do so if it appears likely that a majority in the North would support Irish unity.<\/p>\n

Any move towards Irish reunification would also require a referendum in the Republic.<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham said he planned to take a \u201ccollaborative approach\u201d but that the prospect of a border poll is \u201coff the table\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to focus on bringing people together as best we can, and I think we\u2019ve lived through a decade where there\u2019s been a referendum on Brexit, we had Scottish independence just before it,\u201d Mr Burnham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we find is the rifts that come from those situations take a long time to heal, and it sets you right back and you can\u2019t focus on what\u2019s right in front of us here and now; the cost-of-living pressures that are hurting people in Northern Ireland, the need to get that budget set so that public services can function as they should.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McDonald critical of comments<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald criticised Mr Burnham\u2019s comments, saying a prime minister does not have the right dismiss a commitment made within the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve put it to him very, very strongly that burying his head in the sand is not a plan, is not a strategy, is not wise, and is not acceptable to us,\u201d Ms McDonald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made very clear that the process of political change is under way in Ireland now, that the direction of travel is unmissable, and that there is absolutely a need for responsible, managed preparation for these referendums, so that we ensure that we do not have a repeat of the chaos that we saw in the course of the Brexit process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms McDonald was speaking after what she called a “very frank and very forthright\u201d meeting with Mr Burnham.<\/p>\n

She said he had reiterated his \u201cfull commitment\u201d to the Good Friday Agreement during their meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all duty bound to protect the progress that we have made, and that means that we need to be collectively sure-footed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also need to be honest and very, very clear with people that the Good Friday Agreement and all of its provisions will be honoured, and the referendum for reunification is the heartbeat of the agreement.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

DUP leader Gavin Robinson welcomed the comments, stating that Mr Burnham had \u201cput to bed the nonsense\u201d speculation over a unity poll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British prime minister Andy Burnham has been accused of burying his head in the sand after declaring that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85530,943,42,43,2443,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-606888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andy-burnham","tag-cost-of-living","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}