DUP says 'government is right to be clear that a referendum on Irish unity is not a priority' after Labour Party conference comments
The DUP has welcomed statements by government ministers that a border poll is neither “imminent” nor “a priority”.
MLA Cheryl Brownlee said “Sinn Fein is very much ‘themselves alone’ in thinking a border poll is a priority”.
The East Antrim MLA said: “The government is right to make clear that this is not a priority. It is not a priority amongst the public of Northern Ireland either.
"At a time when we face a range of challenges across the delivery of public services, what people want is stability and a focus on delivering change to help people live better lives.
"That is the focus of the DUP. Sinn Fein need to stop with the distraction politics.”
She was reacting to two sets of comments within 24 hours from government figures.
The most recent was by Fleur Anderson, a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office, who had been speaking at an SDLP-arranged event at the Labour Party Conference on Tuesday morning.
According to the BBC, Ms Anderson had been asked about the prospects of a border poll being called, and had replied that one is “not imminent" and is “not a priority”.
According to its report, this answer made fellow panellists Colum Eastwood and Claire Hanna “swallow hard”.
A day earlier, Ms Anderson’s boss, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, had also been asked about a border poll by the BBC.
He had replied: “The Good Friday Agreement was very clear about the circumstances in which a border poll must be held. That's when the Secretary of State is of the view that a majority of people would vote in favour.
"There is no evidence in Northern Ireland that that's the view of the people.
"And for now, what's the priority? Improving public services, getting those waiting lists down, getting the economy running even better in the interests of a brighter future for everyone in Northern Ireland. That's what I'm focussed on.”
All this came in the wake of comments from Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald at the conference, urging a border poll.
She said "when the history books are written, I think he would wish them to record that it was a Labour prime minister who had the integrity and the vision to walk the final length of the Irish journey and to consign the ancient quarrel and the harm that was done by colonisation and partition to the dustbin of history”.
Efforts were made to get an SDLP response to Fleur Anderson’s comments at its event, but one was not forthcoming.