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UK LABOUR LEADER Keir Starmer has said the prospect of a referendum on Irish unification is “absolutely hypothetical” and “not even on the horizon”.
Starmer, who could be the UK’s next prime minister, strongly rejected the idea of a border poll when questioned about political matters in the North.
The Stormont Assembly has been collapsed amid DUP protest action against internal UK trade barriers created by Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol.
The DUP has made clear it will not accept a return to devolution until the UK Government provides further assurances, by way of legislation, over Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market.
In March, Sinn Féin newspaper adverts in the US calling for a date for an Irish unity referendum were branded “unhelpful” by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at what he described as a “sensitive moment” in efforts to restore powersharing in the North.
In June, Varadkar said that Irish unification could fall off the agenda for a long time if a border poll was held and defeated.
Starmer, speaking to BBC News NI ahead of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, said: “I don’t think we’re anywhere near that kind of question.
“It’s absolutely hypothetical.
“It’s not even on the horizon.”
Starmer also outlined a desire to renegotiate an improved trade deal with the EU, saying: “I’m not interested in a deal that puts the UK in a position of being a rule taker.
“Our rules must be made in Westminster, according to the national interest of the UK as a whole.
“I am interested in resolving some of the outstanding issues.
“And obviously, that will mean making progress on things like the Windsor (Framework) agreement, the protocol, because that was a step in the right direction, which is why we said we would support it.
“So it’s quite clear that there can be improvements and I think in Northern Ireland in particular, there will be a lot of interest in whether we cannot have some measures which take away some of these still remaining tensions that are very obviously there.”
He also outlined a desire for the Stormont institutions to be restored immediately, saying the UK Government should act as an “honest broker”.
Starmer’s comments this evening came as British prime minister Rishi Sunak held talks with Varadkar at the European Political Community summit in Spain.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister and Taoiseach shared their concerns about the continued absence of an executive in Northern Ireland and the democratic deficit this was causing.
“The Prime Minister set out the steps the UK is taking to ensure a return to powersharing and the two agreed to stay in close contact in the coming weeks.
“The two leaders also touched on their respective positions on the issue of legacy and agreed that teams should continue to stay in touch.
“The leaders also discussed a wider set of issues, including support for Ukraine and bilateral cooperation on security and migration.
“They also welcomed the recent UK-Ireland agreement on energy as a sign of the good working relationship between the two governments.
“The leaders noted the progress of the UK and Ireland’s historic joint bid to host Euros 2028.
“They talked about the potential of using the occasion to strengthen bilateral ties and leave a positive legacy in communities, including for grassroots football in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.”
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Why are most the comment sections closed on the journal now?
@: you know why
Lack of moderators would be my guess
1 way traffic
@Chris O’Brien:
because of people like u
@empty:
Libel laws
Ireland will be united one day whether the Brits are in or out. Their foreign policy is in tatters, their economy is being studied on how not to do it and their social order is not far from the crazies in the US. It’s up to us to unite Ireland as the Brits walked away years ago. However we have no talent in government to navigate a way. Martin, Leo, McEntee, etc are so bad, they make Liz Truss look like a genius.
@Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh: We should look at our own problems and focus on those, instead of trying to make us feel better at some others issues.
@Joseph Fitzgibbon: A foreign government misgoverning part of our territory and many of our fellow citizens is a problem we should be dealing with. Lough Neagh is being poisoned, like much of Britain is, and the Tories don’t care. We need to ‘take back control’.
@A Well Known headline here yesterday was of a Dublin river being poisoned. I don’t think it’s exclusively a British problem.
@Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh: as long as you have extremist’s party’s of DIP and SF in charge, unification will be a long way off.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype: NI is suppose to be self governing ! Louth Neagh is Stormont fault , but they won’t sit together . Brexit – protocol has been decent for NI but Unionists still say no. And you advocate for taking them , adding to our own problems ?
@Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh: The paddies had 100 years to make the South attractive to the North
Poll after Poll show only a small minority of swivel eyed loons want a united ireland
They can keep the North we don’t want that basket case up there. No thanks.
@B6Tr3OgE: The Unionists can’t be forced into a united Ireland. UK will never accept that.
And from the Journal comments their presence in a united Ireland will not be accepted by Irish people.
Ain’t gonna happen soon.
@Gavan Hogan: major achievement of sf is to convince people that it is even an issue. It never comes up in everyday conversation except when they bring it into the picture. Let’s just get on with our own business.
It is sad to see Labour under Starmer.
He says whatever the pollsters suggest he should say to win.
The notion that he would be more principled as Prime Minister is fanciful.
@Nestor: Both UK and USA are becoming chaotic countries. That void is now being filled by others.
@Nestor: He’s not fit to tie the shoe laces of Jeremy Corbin.
@David: Jeremy didn’t have much use for shoelaces, more a sandals man.
He is in election mode but the truth is as always that the conditions for a border poll are set out in the GFA. Keir Starmer or anyone else can’t really stop it. If the conditions are there it will happen. If they aren’t it won’t. Everything else is just white noise.
Don’t think the English government should be able stop a border poll but ireland is getting more united since brexit and all right thinking business people know they will benefit from being in the EU the few loyalist hardliners will be left behind Jefffory d knows that .
Well finally some good news.
Keir Starmer sucking up to the DUP in case he needs them to ensure a majority.
He doesn’t care one way or the other about Northern Ireland or Ireland as a whole, anymore than the Tories do.
And of course, the DUP are already busy writing their wishlist for the price of their votes, for whatever party eventually courts their support to form a UK government and probably while chanting that mantra of unionism….never, never, never, no,no,no, show me the money!
The north of Ireland and Scotland are colonies of the English. English people telling us that English people decide our future. The Irish Government must start preparing for a border poll. The further into the abyss that Britain sinks, the sooner a majority in the north will choose the relative sanity of unity.
@Jack Moss: Union Jack Moss. There is an English independence movement. I think they should leave. The issue is that England controls the Union. Scotland wants a referendum but is being denied it by English politicians. Starter has just said he will deny Irish people, too. If you want to mention 1707, I will mention 1918, when a majority in all of Ireland voted for independence.
watch the tories win again as the voters cant trust red commie starmer
and P.S. people say they dont like the tories over being too posh etc, but karmer LEGIT has “SIR” in his name!
@empty: no labour will win next GE..won’t really matter who wins .a border poll is not going happen no matter what Sinn fein say or Leo saying he hopes for a united ireland ..
@empty: labour lost the plot with policies to promote every woke agenda going.
People there having to vote Tory and hold their noses to keep some semblance or a normal life.
@Paul Hussey:
CALLED the silent majority
@Paul Hussey: they can’t even tell you what a woman is
@empty: it’s up to the UK to call a border poll ….they can’t even form a working government up north .can you really see them agree to a UI..not a chance .
@empty: Starmer is a red Tory.
@Paul Hussey: At some stage, there will be votes in Britain for the party that says it will save money by dumping the north of Ireland. That is when the border poll will be a formality.
That’s not for him to decide! The people of NI will decide and the people of Ireland will hopefully vote so we are a nation once again!
corbyn was part of why they left EU
@empty: Corbyn took his party down the wrong path, most labour voters wanted to remain in the EU, but he selfishly chose to take a vague stance on leave/remain.
@MTB Mayo: well that’s not true. Corbin was staunchly for holding another referendum and that was his downfall
Starmer up
Let me tell you we will never stop, never stop
Never, never, never stop
Starmer shut up
You’ll make a grown man cry
Keir Starmer becoming PM isn’t even on the horizon.
“Sir” Kerr is no Tony Blair
No Northern Irish reading the comments would consider a UI. Was only ever united under British rule.
Before that it was an anarchic island of warring provinces, viking and Danish invaders etc. The Normans began the process of turning Ireland into a country.
@offside again: Troll. What does it matter if it was never united before? In 1918, the vast majority voted against the union, for independence parties. That didn’t matter to the British, they partitioned the island with no mandate.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype: Me troll ?? I think you need to understand that Irish history is older than our relationship with the British Empire. You’re stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it. Ireland is still a work in progress. It has evolved hugely in my own lifetime.
@offside again: It seems you are stuck in moments of irrelevant history. The Danish were in many countries, it doesn’t matter in 2023. The “moment’” is now. The British govern part of our island. I expect to keep evolving, so that Starmer is an observer, not a player, in our affairs.
He is a kknob.
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