Andy Burnham has sparked a political row during his first visit to Northern Ireland as Prime Minister after he stated that an Irish border poll is “off the table”.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald reacted strongly to the remarks, stating that no prime minister has the right to “high-handedly” remove the provision for a unity referendum from the Good Friday Agreement.

However, DUP leader Gavin Robinson welcomed the comments, stating the Prime Minister had “put to bed the nonsense” speculation over a unity poll.

During his visit to Belfast Mr Burnham said he is “here to listen” but added that the “rifts” arising from referendums “take a long time to heal”, referring to Brexit and the Scottish independence referendum.

Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the Secretary of State can decide to hold a border poll, and it also places a duty on the office holder 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.

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has previously said that an Irish border poll is “not top of my list of priorities”.

Speaking to reporters in Belfast on Thursday, the Prime Minister reiterated that he is “here to listen”.

“I will take a collaborative approach but some issues will be off the table, and that is one issue that will be off the table,” he said.

He added: “I think we’ve got to focus on bringing people together as best we can, and I think we’ve lived through a decade where there’s been a referendum on Brexit, we had Scottish independence just before it.

“What we find is the rifts that come from those situations take a long time to heal, and it sets you right back and you can’t focus on what’s right in front of us here and now, the cost-of-living pressures that are hurting people in Northern Ireland, the need to get that budget set so that public services can function as they should.

“These are the things right in front of us and sometimes politicians go to things that they want to see, as opposed to getting the solutions that the public need.

“I think a decade since the Brexit referendum, I think we’ve had too much division, too much arguing, too much backward looking.

“We need to fix the things right in front of us in the here and now.”

Speaking following a meeting with the Prime Minister, Ms McDonald said: “At the core of our discussion with him has been the Good Friday Agreement and the provision for a referendum on Irish unity.

“We have made it very clear to the British Prime Minister that the right to referendum, the right for Irish people to decide our future, is one that is contained within the Good Friday Agreement and is a commitment entered into and a matter of international law, and he simply does not have the right to dismiss or disregard that commitment.

“He accepts that as a matter of fact.”

The Sinn Féin leader said she had had a “very direct exchange” with the Prime Minister on the matter.

She added: “Nobody, not the British Prime Minister or anybody else, has the authority to high-handedly remove any provision of the Good Friday Agreement, including and especially the provision for a referendum.

“We have put that case strongly, forcefully to the Prime Minister, and he has acknowledged that that is in fact the case.”

She said: “What I have said to him is that the Good Friday Agreement was democratically sanctioned and supported right across this island, that the British Prime Minister and Government have responsibilities arising from it, that our right to a referendum is at the core of the Good Friday Agreement, and Andy Burnham, as Prime Minister or otherwise, has no authority and no right to set that aside.

“We have stated that to him very clearly. He has listened to us. He has heard us, I believe he has accepted the veracity of our position.

She said: “Anybody who imagines that now trying to slow pedal or backpedal or pretend that the future isn’t coming is foolish and is acting foolishly and irresponsibly.”

Mr Robinson welcomed the Prime Minister’s remarks.

He said: “It’s particularly encouraging to hear his comments today, putting to bed the nonsense that has been mentioned over many months now around a border poll.

“I shared with you my view of the Secretary of State’s position back in July in Hillsborough Castle, and it’s good to hear the Prime Minister put that issue beyond doubt.”