Tory shadow NIO minister Alex Burghart says it's 'very important' UK state doesn't take a sides in border poll
The shadow Northern Ireland secretary says the government should not “use the offices of state” to campaign for the Union in the event of a border poll – and that the Irish government should not use its resources to back a united Ireland.
Alex Burghart’s comments suggest the Conservative Party would take a different approach to Northern Ireland than it did during the Scottish independence referendum.
During the 2014 campaign the Scottish secretary of state openly campaigned for the Union and used public resources to deliver a booklet selling the benefits of the union to every home.
But in an interview with the BBC, Mr Burghart says that in the event of a border poll, the NI Secretary should not back either side – and Ireland should do likewise.
Former DUP MP Ian Paisley asked whether the Conservative Party would campaign to maintain the Union if they were in government during a border poll, during an episode of the BBC’s ‘Borderlands: UK or United Ireland’ podcast.
“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”, the shadow NI secretary said.
Asked by presenter Chris Buckler if he would expect the Irish government to remain neutral as well, Mr Burghart said “it's a very good question”, adding “I think it's quite unlikely that they would” [campaign].
“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.
Pushed by Mr Buckler on how the Irish government could be neutral in the debate given their very clear position in favour of an all Ireland state, Mr Burghart said “I'm speaking on my feet here, I reserve the right to think about it more deeply.
“But as I said, I think there's a difference between individuals campaigning and state money being used. It would feel inappropriate to me for the Irish government to be spending taxpayer cash on supporting one side in the referendum, particularly if it expected GB to remain neutral”.
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”.
Alex Burghart is not the first shadow secretary of state to argue that the UK government should remain neutral in the event of a referendum on Northern Ireland’s place in the Union.
In 2021, Labour’s Louise Haigh contradicted the then-position of Sir Keir Starmer, saying that it was not her job to be a “persuader for the Union”.
Speaking to GB News, Ms Haigh said: “The principle of consent is still very much intact and it is only for the people of Northern Ireland to determine their own constitutional future and polls still suggest that there is a very firm majority in favour of remaining in the United Kingdom.
"It's not my job to be a persuader for the union, that was an important principle that led up to the Good Friday Agreement.
"We are a unionist party in the Labour party, but if there is a border poll then we should remain neutral”.
Sir Keir Starmer has previously said he would campaign for Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK if such a referendum was held in his lifetime – saying such a vote is neither imminent nor a priority.