Angela Rayner has brushed off Donald Trump’s backing for a united Ireland, saying the Government remains committed to the Good Friday Agreement.
The US president triggered a diplomatic row on Saturday by claiming during a visit to Dublin that Irish unification was inevitable and saying he would “love to see it”.
His remarks brought condemnation from unionist politicians in Northern Ireland and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
Speaking to Sky News’s Sunday Morning programme, Ms Rayner sought to play down the importance of the president’s comments.
She said: “Donald Trump is Donald Trump, and the president will say and speak his mind as he sees it.”
Ms Rayner added the Government was “really serious” about the Good Friday Agreement and would “continue on that path”.
The UK-Ireland border remains a sensitive issue, with Mr Burnham triggering a political row earlier in the year after saying a referendum on reunification was “off the table”.
Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the UK’s Northern Ireland secretary can decide to hold a border poll, and has a duty to call one if it appears likely a majority would vote for Irish unification.
The people of the Republic of Ireland must also vote in favour to effect constitutional change.
Shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that Mr Trump’s remarks had been “unhelpful” and accused him of “playing games”.
Mr Tugendhat added: “I suppose I knew he was a Republican, I didn’t know he was that kind of a republican.”
Reform UK economic spokesman Robert Jenrick told the BBC that Mr Trump “shouldn’t have weighed into British politics”.
Mr Trump’s comments came amid already strained relations between London and Washington over issues including the war in Iran, sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the president’s demand earlier in the year to annex Greenland.
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