What would an Andy Burnham premiership mean for Ireland?

PAUL O’BRIEN looks at the Makerfield MP’s record when it comes to the north of Ireland

DESCRIBING his vision of working together at Labour’s conference, Andy Burham expressed his hope that Britain would rejoin the EU in his lifetime and said “I believe in unions of all kinds, the union that is the UK, the European Union benefited this country, trade unions. People prosper more when they are part of unions, of countries.” So what can we expect on Ireland from a Burnham premiership? It doesn’t sound like a good start, but let’s consider some details.

Will he connect his long held views on EU, community voice and representation — all of which point to a constitutional change in Ireland — which at a stroke would take the north of Ireland back into the EU, in line with that community’s view expressed 10 years ago?

In the past he advocated for British Labour Party to stand candidates in the north of Ireland “to make their voices heard.” But speaking after the Makerfield by-election, campaigner Louise Haigh MP said “Andy has a long standing view on that but SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) are our sister party and he absolutely respects the tradition of Labour’s neutrality that shaped the Good Friday Agreement.”

So, when Burnham publicised his Irish heritage in a recent speech to Alliance conference, speaking of how his ancestors left Drogheda for Liverpool in the late 1800s, was he preparing to shift ground?

He added he recognised the “similarities between the experiences of the Hillsborough families and those who had fought for justice for those killed on Bloody Sunday” in the face of British institutional intransigence, cover-up and lies. Bringing the two sets of families together in Derry “some profoundly uncomfortable truths about our country revealed themselves to me.”

Are these the early steps of a British government moving to implement the Good Friday Agreement provision for Irish re-unification? A clear answer to that question would be for him to define the criteria for a Border Poll and to start preparations.

A challenge for Burham will be to pivot Labour’s Legacy Bill, currently being pushed through Parliament by Secretary of State Hilary Benn and now widely seen as a veterans’ charter, to the intended purpose of a recourse to justice for victims.

A Burnham Northern Ireland office will have plenty of issues to address and these will face pressure from a colonial establishment. The trade union movement and the Irish community in Britain will need to be clear and loud in their demands for Irish self-determination.

This article was first published in Morning Star on 26th June 2026