Indyref possible if majority support one, Andy Burnham says

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said there could another Scottish independence referendum if there was a “majority of public support” in favour of holding one.

He was asked about the matter during PMQs by SNP MP Chris Law, who highlighted that the Good Friday Agreement set out the circumstances in which a border poll could be called in Northern Ireland.

Law said that the “same right” should exist for people in Scotland and the “conditions for a second referendum should be set out in law”.

Burnham said the Good Friday Agreement was clear that a poll would be called in Northern Ireland if there was a “clear consensus” around the country’s future.

He went on: “I would say [it’s] exactly the same situation in Scotland. I am not aware that there is a majority of public support for another referendum. Until that changes… there won’t be one.”

First Minister John Swinney has welcomed the comment, saying it was the “first time” since the 2014 referendum that a prime minister had accepted “that majority support for a referendum should mean one takes place”.

He and Burnham met earlier in the summer to discuss shared interests, during which the constitution was also raised.

After the meeting, a Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister had told Swinney that a referendum was “off limits”.

But Swinney said he would continue to push for another vote and last month his government published a draft bill to hold one.

A legal framework for holding a poll on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK or reunify with Ireland was set out in the Good Friday Agreement and enshrined in the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

The act gives the power to the Northern Ireland secretary to call a border poll if it appears likely the people of Northern Ireland would back Irish reunification, and vote poll had not been held within the last seven years.

There has been disagreement over whether such a framework should also exist for Scotland, which voted to remain a part of the UK in 2014 by 55 per cent to 45.

The UK Government has repeatedly turned down requests from the Scottish Government in the intervening years for a second vote.

But a lack of clarity on the circumstances around when such a vote could and should be held has long been a point of contention.

Shadow Scottish secretary Harriet Cross said: “Andy Burnham has shown that he’s weak when it comes to defending the Union. By suggesting that Scotland and Northern Ireland are in the same situation, he has opened the door for the SNP to demand another independence referendum based on an opinion poll.”

Most polling suggests that support for independence versus remaining in the UK is neck and neck.

But following the last Holyrood election, the Scottish Parliament has the largest cohort of pro-independence MSPs.