The leaders of the nationalist parties of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will meet this Monday, September 14, in Cardiff to sign a memorandum of understanding in favor of independence and demand that the British Government call referendums in their respective territories.
The Welsh First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, of Plaid Cymru, will receive the head of the Scottish Government, John Swinney, of the Scottish National Party (SNP), and the Northern Irish leader Michelle O’Neill, of Sinn Féin.
The three will participate in the meeting as leaders of their parties and not as representatives of the regional governments. The presence of the Irish opposition leader, Mary Lou McDonald, of Sinn Féin, is also expected.
Plaid Cymru, the SNP, and Sinn Féin will draft a joint declaration to demand greater powers and the right to hold consultations on separation from the United Kingdom.
Ap Iorwerth has advocated for an expansion of Wales’ powers within the British devolution process and has proposed that Cardiff take control of the police and justice, areas that remain under Westminster’s jurisdiction.
“Andy Burnham had more control over the police as Mayor of Manchester than I have as First Minister of Wales, and that is not right,” he said.
The leader also stated that Wales is “a nation” and not “a region of England”, and noted that independence is the ultimate goal of a constitutional process whose decision belongs to the Welsh people.
Ahead of the meeting, John Swinney said this Sunday that the three territories currently have pro-independence leaders.
“For the first time in history, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are governed by pro-independence first ministers”, he said in a statement prior to the meeting.
“Tomorrow in Cardiff I hope to discuss a better future with partners from the rest of these islands, and that is only possible with the new beginning that independence represents,” he added.
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The Scottish leader also pointed out that the current status quo is not “sustainable” and stated that the British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, “will go down in history as the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.”
The meeting will take place two days after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, said during a visit to Dublin that he would like to see a “united” Ireland and that it will happen “sooner or later”.
His statements received criticism in the United Kingdom, especially from opposition parties.
In this regard, the British Prime Minister again closed the door to a new referendum on Scottish independence, after his previous statements were interpreted by the SNP leader, John Swinney, as an opening to establish a mechanism for a new consultation.
Burnham said that a new Scottish referendum was “unthinkable” and told Swinney that “there was no consensus for an independence referendum in Scotland”, unlike the situation that existed when the 2014 consultation was held.
The Prime Minister also stated that the constitutional mechanisms for a possible exit of Scotland and Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom are different. This, after he said the day before in the House of Commons that the trigger for a vote on separation corresponded to “exactly the same situation in Scotland” as in Northern Ireland.
According to the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, there is a path for calling a referendum on Irish reunification if “it appears likely” that the majority of the population of Northern Ireland will vote to leave the United Kingdom.
In this sense, another reaction arose after the statements of the U.S. President, Donald Trump, about a possible united Ireland.
The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch questioned his comments and said: “President Trump, as usual, acts impulsively, just as he did with Greenland and the incorporation of Canada as the 51st state. This kind of irresponsible statements about the future of democratic countries are extremely counterproductive and generate unnecessary tensions.”
