Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out calling a referendum on Irish unification, describing a border poll as “off the table”.
The Labour leader said votes on Brexit and Scottish independence showed the “risks that come from those situations take a long time to heal”.
Speaking during his first official visit to Northern Ireland, he said the focus should instead be on public services and tackling cost-of-living pressures.
“We need to fix the things right in front of us in the here and now,” he told BBC News NI.
Burnham is meeting Stormont’s first and deputy first ministers and the leaders of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s main parties.
His visit comes amid calls from the power-sharing executive for increased funding from the government to ease budget pressures.
The four-party coalition has yet to set a budget nearly five months into the financial year.
Stormont departments are facing a shortfall of up to £1.6bn, external, according to a spending watchdog.
With no agreed plan, public services have been operating under contingency arrangements.
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