What will an Andy Burnham premiership mean for NI?

Andy Burnham is the new Labour Party leader.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester will replace Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister on Monday.

But what will a Burnham premiership mean for Northern Ireland?

Devolution was the big theme of Andy Burnham's first speech when he launched his bid to become Labour leader, claiming he would bring about the "biggest rebalancing of power" in political history.

He said this would be achieved by handing a new No 10 North unit based in Manchester, the task of giving English regions more control in areas including housing and transport.

He also promised new opportunities to extend existing devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by taking power "deeper down".

But what will those opportunities be and what will those in Stormont think of them?

Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator at The Times, said Burnham would not view Northern Ireland as an "afterthought".

"He has been a devolved leader and he knows how it works," he said.

"He starts at advantage, he's not exactly in the same boat as leaders at Stormont, but he is someone who has lived and breathed devolution. He knows how frustrating it can be dealing with the centre of power."

The incoming PM will be confronted in his early days in office with helping Stormont's executive navigate a path to agreeing a budget for this year, which could be carefully watched by Scottish and Welsh political leaders.

Maguire said: "That is going to be tricky, you can well imagine if a handover of cash happens as a result of Stormont's budget crisis, the first thing the Welsh first minister will say is, 'hang on'. It's full of political difficulty."

On Wednesday, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, said he did not want to reach a point where he may need to step in to set a Stormont budget.

Aside from money issues, David McCann from Stormont Sources podcast, said that Burnham may look at "disconnected community" within the devolved nations, something the new Labour leader has previously spoken about.

"There are communities in Wales, Scotland, and obviously in Northern Ireland, that feel as disconnected from the devolved administrations as they do from Westminster."

He added that more powers for devolved governments may be on the agenda.

"Andy Burnham is essentially a blank sheet of paper coming in."

Legacy issues from the Troubles in Northern Ireland have been a thorn in the side of previous prime ministers.

The 2023 Legacy Act was introduced by the previous Conservative government and offered conditional immunity for perpetrators of some Troubles' crimes in exchange for co-operation with a new body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government introduced a new bill in parliament, with MPs already having voted to repeal the conditional immunity provision.

Burnham will be expected to continue with this legislation.

Dr Thomas Leahy is a senior lecturer in British and Irish contemporary history and politics at Cardiff University.

He said there will be a "backlog of things for Burnham to do" including dealing with legacy issues.

"It wouldn't make any sense to tear that up," he said.

"For all the issues there's been for Keir Starmer, I don't think that's one that Burnham would say, 'oh, yeah, that was a major issue'. And public opinion in England, Scotland Wales just wouldn't be on the pulse of that really. So I think that would continue."

Leahy added there still could be issues around legacy for Burnham such as "what he does when he comes into office related to the release of documents, security services, intelligence services for the British state, related to legacy".

Relations between the Irish and British governments were strained post-Brexit and Sir Keir Starmer had set about changing that.

His first official hosting of an international leader at Chequers was Simon Harris who was Taoiseach (Irish PM) at the time.

BBC News NI previously reported that there is concern in Dublin that domestic issues, such as Reform biting at his toes and the economy, will preoccupy Andy Burnham and push Irish affairs to the side.

Burnham has Irish ancestry and Leahy thinks his relationship with Ireland "will probably stay fairly similar" to Starmer's.

He said the Republic of Ireland has "bitten back before" on issues like Brexit and legacy and Burnham will not "want to upset the apple cart, as such, again".

Burnham has long been a supporter of the Labour Party running in Northern Ireland.

While on the campaign trail during the Makerfield by-election, he said it would "obviously require careful conversations with our sister party, the SDLP".

"I wouldn't want to blunder in and create an issue.

"I do have an in-principle commitment that democracy should allow the range of parties to be represented, and personally I am in favour of more proportional systems."

However, key Burnham ally Louise Haigh told BBC News NI last month that he "absolutely respects the tradition of Labour's neutrality that shaped the Good Friday Agreement".

She added there was "no plans for that".

Boyd Black is secretary of the Labour Party in Northern Ireland.

He said he is "looking forward" to Burnham becoming leader as he has "been a very good friend to us over the years".

Black believes "Labour Party politics have been suppressed" in Northern Ireland and said they will be "doing their best to persuade" Burnham on running candidates in elections.