LOUISE Haigh has been urged to clarify whether she thinks Irish unification should be "off the table" after previously suggesting the people of Northern Ireland should "determine their own constitutional future".
Andy Burnham last week ruled out a poll on Irish reunification on a visit to Belfast, but his First Secretary of State Haigh has previously indicated a different position.
She has now been urged to clarify where she stands by the SNP.
Speaking in 2021 in her previous role of shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Haigh – who is essentially the deputy prime minister – said that it was not her job "to be a persuader for the Union", adding that the “principle of consent is still very much intact and it is only for the people of Northern Ireland to determine their own constitutional future".
A poll earlier this year showed a majority of people on the island of Ireland would vote for Irish unity as part of the EU.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said: “The Prime Minister’s stance is directly at odds with his own deputy with Louise Haigh previously saying that it is ‘only for the people of Northern Ireland to determine their own constitutional future’.
"Does she stand by these comments or is she just the latest Labour Party politician who is happy to abandon her principles now she is in apposition of power?
“Here in Scotland, voters elected a record number of pro-independence MSPs in May, we now have first ministers in every corner of these islands who reject Westminster and yet another poll this week showed that people are fed up with the failed Westminster system which does not work for Scotland.
“Andy Burnham must recognise that he cannot block democracy forever and wake up to the reality that people across these islands have rejected the broken UK status quo.”
Downing Street attempted to row back on comments over the weekend as the backlash to the Prime Minister’s remarks grew.
US congressman Richard Neal suggested that Burnham should “read the Good Friday Agreement”, and even former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown declared that “of course, in the long term, Ireland will be united".
Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Secretary has a duty to call a referendum on Irish reunification if it appears likely a majority would vote in support.
The people of the Republic of Ireland must also vote in favour to effect constitutional change.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant has previously said that an Irish border poll is “not top of my list of priorities”.
But he said last Friday that he and Burnham "stand full square" behind all of the Good Friday Agreement.
Burnham's snub of an Irish border boll followed on from him making a similar statement on his only visit to Scotland as Prime Minister when he said that a second Scottish independence referendum was “off limits".
Blackman added: "Andy Burnham talked the talk about doing politics differently, but his actions have displayed all the hallmarks of anti-democratic arrogance shown by all the previous occupants of Number 10 Downing Street.
“He claimed he was going to go on a listening tour round the UK but so far, his only trips to Scotland and Northern Ireland have been to tell people that independence is ‘off limits’ and an Irish border poll is ‘off the table’.
“We now have senior US politicians reminding Burnham of the terms of the Good Friday Agreement which includes the principle that the right to self-determination should not be left to one person and even one of the chief architects of the Better Together campaign admitting that Ireland will be united.
“Downing Street can try to row back on the Prime Minister’s comments, but Burnham has shown he either has a poor understanding of the Good Friday agreement or a willingness to ignore it completely. I’m not sure which is worse."
