Editorial: Andy Burnham must face up to stern challenges

​It didn't take Donald Trump long to cause controversy on his two-day visit to the Republic of Ireland.

​Speaking to the press alongside taoiseach Micheal Martin in Dublin on Saturday morning, the US president delighted those who question the constitutional position of Northern Ireland with comments that have angered unionists and put more unnecessary pressure on UK-US relations.

Mr Trump claimed Irish unification – which, of course, means breaking apart the UK – was inevitable.

He said: “I’d love to see it unified.

"I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually.

“You know what? The way I look at it, it’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.”

A statesman-like response from Trump on Saturday ought to have been simply that it is for the people of Northern Ireland to decide, as stipulated under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.

Unionists must continue working hard to get the message across that NI has a positive future as an integral part of the UK, and that message needs heard – and accepted – in Washington and across the world.

Another alarming development for those of us who cherish the UK is the news that the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will meet as party leaders in Cardiff today to discuss a "post-UK future".

SNP leader John Swinney has said Andy Burnham “must now be facing up to the idea that he will go down in history as the final Prime Minister of the United Kingdom”.

Both Mr Trump's comments, and the Cardiff meeting, are challenges to Mr Burnham's authority, and he must meet them head on with a robustness that befits his position.