Editorial: Unlike other media in Belfast this newspaper was not given a chance to grill the prime minister, who has wobbled on whether he would campaign for Northern Ireland to stay in the UK

The prime minister flew into Belfast yesterday for a brief visit to meet politicians.

It is welcome that the Labour government wants to be seen to be visiting the four-nation United Kingdom, when only a few decades ago Labour supported an all Ireland by consent.

Sir Keir Starmer and his Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn say they do not want a border poll, and the Taoiseach Simon Harris says the same for now. This takes the matter off the current agenda, and is a big relief to anyone who cares about the future of our nation.

Furthermore, Mr Benn has said that he will not clarify the criteria for a border poll. This is of huge significance, because such clarification is merely an attempt to put London in a straightjacket and force it faster into a referendum than it might otherwise feel is appropriate.

Worryingly though, Sir Keir Starmer has retreated on another key issue. He once told the BBC quite clearly that in such an event he would campaign for ​Northern Ireland to remain in the UK. Asked the same question yesterday by the same BBC reporter, he declined to give such clarity. This will be music to the ears of republicans and is very troubling.

The News Letter did not get a chance to grill him on that, or another question that we wanted to ask – one that Hilary Benn did not answer on Sunday when we put it to him: will there be no pushback at all against a hypocritical Irish Republic which has never accepted any scrutiny of its role in the Troubles yet has had the nerve to sue the UK on legacy? (click here to see our question to Hilary Benn)

We were not given a question to Sir Keir, unlike the Belfast Telegraph, Cool FM and others. As the NIO will know well, we often ask questions from an angle that no other media outlets do. These reflect concerns held by unionists who in the recent election are the largest number of voters.

Why then were we not given chance to ask a question of the new prime minister of the United Kingdom?