It obviously benefits the UK populace to put off having to deal with any civil conflict in NI indefinitely but this is minor compared to the other side of it: does having a non-united Ireland as a way to reduce Irish competitiveness and geopolitical regional heft produce more value from preventing problems (like losses of jobs, increased corporate tax avoidance, marginally increased rates of corporate espionage by third parties using Eire as a base, Ireland having more negotiating power in commodities agreements, Ireland acting as a refuge for enemies of the state in times of UK civil conflict) from arising than it costs to maintain NI?
That latter side was a very serious issue in the history of the UK, England, etc prior to globalisation and the UK has to hedge its bets against the odds of globalisation going away. A good book on this is Land of Troubles, published by Routledge.
Nobody wants to go back to the "troubles" except for the hardcore old timers who are slowly dying out on both sides.