![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/burnham-irish-unity-remarks-were-not-a-mistake-chris-bryant-says.jpg\")
British prime minister Andy Burnham caused a political row in his first visit to Belfast (Cathal McNaughton\/PA)<\/p>\nBritain’s prime minister Andy Burnham did not make a mistake when he said in Belfast that a poll on Irish unity is \u201coff the table\u201d, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant has said.<\/p>\n
Bryant said Mr Burnham was speaking about the situation \u201cnow\u201d and insisted they are both \u201cfull square behind every single part of the Good Friday Agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n
The prime pinister caused a political row this week with his comments during his first visit to Northern Ireland since coming into office.<\/p>\n
British prime minister Andy Burnham caused a political row in his first visit to Belfast (Cathal McNaughton\/PA)<\/p>\n
Asked about the prospects of a border poll, he responded: \u201cI will take a collaborative approach, but some issues will be off the table, and that is one issue that will be off the table.<\/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<\/p>\n
The remarks drew an angry response from nationalist politicians, with Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald stating that no British prime minister has the right to \u201chigh-handedly\u201d remove the provision for a unity referendum from the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n
DUP leader Gavin Robinson welcomed the comments, stating Burnham had \u201cput to bed the nonsense\u201d speculation over a unity poll.<\/p>\n
Asked if Burnham\u2019s comment was a mistake, Bryant told UTV: \u201cNo, it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat next to Andy throughout all the conversations yesterday, and he made absolutely clear, time and time again, and I\u2019m happy to do it again now, that we stand full square behind every single part of the Good Friday Agreement, including the provisions in relation to a border poll.\u201d<\/p>\n
He (Andy Burnham) was asked specifically about whether he was going to be discussing a border poll, holding a border poll now, and he was saying that we’re taking that off the table today<\/p>\n
Sir Chris Bryant<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cHe was asked specifically about whether he was going to be discussing a Border poll, holding a border poll now, and he was saying that we\u2019re taking that off the table today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was simply about the conversations yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to the First Minister and to other political leaders today to make it absolutely clear, I and Andy are fully committed to the Good Friday Agreement with all its provisions, including in relation to a border poll.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast\/Good Friday Agreement, the North’s secretary of state can decide to hold a border poll, and it also places a duty on the office holder to call one if it appears likely a majority would vote for Irish unification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain’s prime minister Andy Burnham did not make a mistake when he said in Belfast that a poll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-607690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607690","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=607690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}