Alex Burghart clarifies Tory position on border poll - saying UK should not be neutral in event of 'unlikely' referendum
The Conservative shadow Northern Ireland secretary has reversed his previous position that the UK should remain neutral in the event of a border poll – saying the government should campaign for the Union as it did in the Scottish referendum.
Alex Burghart has described the prospect of a vote on pulling Northern Ireland out of the UK as “unlikely” – arguing that ministers would be entitled to use “whatever resources were required” to maintain the Union.
In a letter in today’s News Letter, the Tory MP says that a requirement in the Belfast Agreement for “rigorous impartiality” relates to how the country is governed – and does not require neutrality on the existence of the UK. (To read the letter, click here)
The latest comments come after Mr Burghart faced criticism from unionist politicians for the position he set out in a BBC podcast about Northern Ireland’s constitutional position. He had said that the government should not “use the offices of state” to campaign for the Union in the event of a vote – and that the Irish government should not use its resources to back a united Ireland.
Ulster Unionist peer Lord Empey said that the Irish government would not be neutral, and the UK Government would then “be obliged to campaign for the Union”.
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Writing in today’s News Letter, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary said: “On reflection, I think it is clear that, in the event of a border poll in Northern Ireland, the UK government would have a duty to campaign for the Union and not remain neutral.
“Westminster did, of course, campaign for the Union during the 2014 Scottish referendum and should – in the unlikely event of a vote in Northern Ireland – do so again”.
Nationalists have argued that the Belfast Agreement requires the UK to be neutral in the event of a vote. They cite the “rigorous impartiality” commitment, backed by both governments. That requires the sovereign government to exercise its powers “with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people” in terms of cultural and political rights – and equal treatment of “both communities” – but makes no mention of requirements in a border poll.
Unionists and the Conservative Party have rejected that argument – saying it merely references the government’s impartiality in terms of running the country and not advantaging one one community in Northern Ireland over another.
Labour leader and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he would campaign for Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK if such a referendum was held in his lifetime – and that such a vote is “not even on the horizon”.
During the Scottish referendum in 2014, the UK government delivered two million booklets to households in Scotland, arguing the benefits of continued UK membership.
Then Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael urged people to read the material and ask themselves “do we really want to gamble all of this when the alternative is so full of risks and uncertainty?” He said the UK government “has a duty to provide people in Scotland with facts ahead of our referendum decision in September. We know that people want more information that is clear and reliable”.
Mr Burghart’s clarification of the official opposition’s position on a border poll follow a recent interview he gave to the BBC’s ‘Borderland: UK or United Ireland?’ podcast. Former DUP MP Ian Paisley had asked whether the Conservative Party would campaign to maintain the Union if they were in government during a border poll.
“Yes, the Conservative Party would. We’re the Conservative and Unionist Party. In the same way that we campaigned for Scotland to stay part of the United Kingdom in the Scottish referendum.
“It would obviously be very important, should a border poll come about, which I don’t see happening any time in the near or even medium term future, that any Secretary of State should not use the offices of state to come down on the side of one community or another”, Mr Burghart said.
He added: “There's a divide between the institutions and the politicians themselves. And obviously private individuals, who happen to be politicians, have a perfect right to go out and campaign for whatever they want. That's free society.
“I would have serious reservations about the Irish state using state funding to support one side of the vote… that sort of feels wrong to me”, the Tory MP said.