  External irradiation of a neutron star (NS) accretion disc induces
Poynting-Robertson (PR) drag, removing angular momentum and increasing the mass
accretion rate. Recent simulations show PR drag significantly enhancing the
mass accretion rate during Type I X-ray bursts, which could explain X-ray
spectral features such as an increase in the persistent emission and a soft
excess. However, prograde spin of the NS is expected to weaken PR drag,
challenging its importance during bursts. Here, we study the effect of spin on
PR drag during X-ray bursts. We run four simulations, with two assuming a
non-spinning NS and two using a spin parameter of $a_*=0.2$, corresponding to a
rotation frequency of 500 Hz. For each scenario, we simulate the disc evolution
subject to an X-ray burst and compare it to the evolution found with no burst.
PR drag drains the inner disc region during a burst, moving the inner disc
radius outward by $\approx1.6$ km in the $a_*=0$ and by $\approx2.2$ km in the
$a_*=0.2$ simulation. The burst enhances the mass accretion rate across the
innermost stable circular orbit $\approx7.9$ times when the NS is not spinning
and $\approx11.2$ times when it is spinning. The explanation for this seemingly
contradictory result is that the disc is closer to the NS when $a_*=0.2$, and
the resulting stronger irradiating flux offsets the weakening effect of spin on
the PR drag. Hence, PR drag remains a viable explanation for the increased
persistent emission and soft excess observed during X-ray bursts in spinning NS
systems.
