Irish unity poll not on horizon, says Sir Keir Starmer

A referendum on Irish unification is "not even on the horizon" according to the man who is favourite to be the next UK prime minister.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer spoke to the BBC before his party conference, which begins at the weekend.

He has previously said he would campaign for Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK if such a referendum was held in his lifetime.

Those remarks were recently criticised by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.

Now, Sir Keir has ruled out calling a poll if he becomes prime minister.

"I don't think we're anywhere near that kind of question," he told BBC News NI.

"It's absolutely hypothetical. It's not even on the horizon."

Sir Keir has also spoken of renegotiating an improved trade deal with the European Union if he wins power, leading to speculation such an arrangement may do away with the need for an Irish Sea border.

The post-Brexit trade border, which led to extra checks on goods imported to Northern Ireland from Great Britain, led to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) boycotting the Stormont institutions.

This has left Northern Ireland without a devolved government since February 2022.

But he flatly ruled out a Swiss-style deal which would see the UK adhering to EU rules with the oversight of the European Court of Justice.

"I'm not interested in a deal that puts the UK in a position of being a rule taker," Sir Keir said.

"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."

Some senior members of the DUP are known to be in favour of waiting to see if they may get a better deal from an incoming Labour administration than the current Conservative government.

But Sir Keir made it clear he believed the Stormont institutions should be back up and running immediately.

"We've talked to all the political parties in Northern Ireland, as you know, and as you would expect, so I'm well aware of the issues the DUP have and I think there are ways to resolve them," he said.

"The wrong thing to do is to simply say there are issues that need resolving. The right thing to do is to get in the room and resolve.

"There's one further thing that I think is important. I did work in Northern Ireland for five years, with the Policing Board and the police service, and I know that the role of the UK government as honest broker is crucial in finding agreement, where it may not appear it's there initially.

"I'm worried that our government has moved away from that honest broker role."

Sir Keir added that Northern Ireland's government needed to be restored quickly because communities here "absolutely depend on the decisions that have to be made with their interests at heart".

"And are we talking to all the political parties about this? You bet we are, to ensure that that can happen as quickly as possible."

He repeated his intention to repeal the controversial Troubles Legacy Bill after his new shadow Northern Ireland spokesman Hilary Benn said a replacement must be found.

"I do think that we need to look at what the other options are. Of course, I do understand the problem we're trying to confront," Sir Keir said.

"We're talking to political parties about what that might look like. But if I know anything about Northern Ireland it's that you don't sit in London imposing things on Northern Ireland if you do not have the support of the political parties or the communities."

Asked if he had a specific idea he replied: "I have got some ideas about how we take that forward.

"Obviously, these are difficult matters. If they were not difficult they'd have been solved many years ago, but I was personally involved in my work in Northern Ireland, with some of the investigations into these historic cases.

"And I met the victims groups even more recently to talk through their experience of what they want. But what I would do is bring a collaborative approach that brings people with us on a journey rather than impose it."

Meanwhile Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar spoke about the lack of devolution when they met in Spain during a session of the European Political Community.

In a statement released afterwards, a Number 10 spokesperson said the leaders had "shared their concerns" about the continued absence of an executive in Northern Ireland.

They also talked about the legacy act as well as the UK and Ireland's joint bid to host the Euros in 2028.

An Irish government spokesman said the leaders also "discussed the importance of Irish-British bilateral relationships, including the positive indications regarding the Euro 2028 bid", adding that Mr Varadkar said Ireland was "happy to assist financially in redeveloping Casement Park in Belfast".