Sinn Féin leaders have said they left British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in no doubt that neither he nor any other British politician can take an Irish unity referendum ‘off the table’ following a meeting with him last week.

The issue was raised by Sinn Féin during a series of meetings between Andy Burnham and parties in the north and came in the wake of a BBC interview during which he said the vote on reunifying Ireland was off the table in those discussions.

Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald, Leas-Uachtarán Michelle O’Neill and North Belfast MP John Finucane met with the new British Prime Minister during his first visit to the north.

Speaking afterwards, Ms. McDonald said the right to a referendum on Irish Unity is a key part of the Good Friday Agreement, was agreed in referendums and is enshrined in international law.

Mary Lou McDonald, Michelle O'Neill and John Finucane met with Andy Burnham.

placeholder image — Mary Lou McDonald, Michelle O'Neill and John Finucane met with Andy Burnham.

“The British Prime Minister needs to realise that refusing to prepare will not stop change from coming. It is as reckless as what happened with Brexit.

"To mark his first visit to Ireland with such divisive and ill-informed comments, that fly in the face of the Good Friday Agreement, is totally unacceptable.

“The right to a referendum on Irish Unity cannot be casually cast aside or taken off the table and suggesting that it can send a very dangerous message to those within unionism who are attempting to recreate a past based on division and supremacy.

“In the period ahead the people of Ireland, north and south, will have the opportunity to determine our future in a unity referendum. That is what people voted for. If the British Prime Minister really wants to learn the lessons from their disastrous Brexit referendum, then the responsible thing to do is to prepare for the possibility of constitutional change in Ireland so that change when it comes, is planned, orderly and inclusive.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham during his first official visit to Belfast. Photo by Matt Mackey

“Sticking his head in the sand is not a strategy. Refusing to prepare will not stop change from coming. It is as reckless as what happened with Brexit.”

Michelle O’Neill said: “I also pressed the British Prime Minister on the importance of adequate funding for the north, to deliver real financial support for workers, families and communities during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. He needs to reverse years of underfunding for the north and support economic development with strong public services and strong communities.

“I also spoke about the necessary reform of the Assembly and the need for parties within the Executive to work together to deliver progress. Unfortunately, there are those who continue to try undermining power-sharing and attempt to drag society back to days of sectarianism and division."

Michelle O’Neill also said that Sinn Féin stands fully with the people of Garvaghy Road, adding: “On legacy, Sinn Féin reiterated to the British Prime Minister that any process must be centred on the rights of victims and families rather than protecting the state or any group within it. There can be no preferential treatment. Too many families are waiting for the truth and justice they have been denied for far too long."

In an interview with BBC Northern Ireland, Mr Burnham was asked if a Referendum would form part of discussions.

He responded: I’m here to listen. I will take a collaborative approach and some issues will be off the table and that is one issue that will be off the table.”

When asked why, he said: “Because I think we have got to focus on bringing people together as best we can and I think we have lived through a decade where there has been a Referendum on Brexit, we had Scottish independence just before that, what we find is that the rifts that come from those situations take a long time to heal; set you right back and you can;t focvus on what’s here in front of us right here and now: the cost of living pressures that hurt people here in Northern Ireland, the need to get that budget set so that the public services can function as they should. These are the things right in front of us and some politicians go to things they want to see as opposed to getting the solutions the public need.

"I think since the Brexit Referendum we have had too much division, too much backward looking, we need to fix the things right in front of us here and now.”

The 1998 God Friday Agreement makes provision for a vote on Irish reunification to be be held.

It states that those who singed up to the Agreement endorse the commitment made by the British and Irish Governments that, in a new British-Irish Agreement they will “recognise the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland with regard to its status, whether they prefer to continue to support the Union with Great Britain or a sovereign united Ireland”, and also “recognise that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish, accepting that this right must be achieved and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland.”