The main nationalist leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will meet this Monday in Cardiff to sign a joint agreement aimed at increasing pressure on London and demanding the holding of independence referendums, in an initiative that could deepen territorial tensions within the United Kingdom.
The meeting will bring together the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney; the leader of Plaid Cymru and head of the Welsh Government, Rhun ap Iorwerth; and the vice president of Sinn Féin and First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill. The three will participate in the meeting in their capacity as party leaders and not as formal representatives of their respective governments.
Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under pressure
During the meeting, a memorandum of understanding is expected to be signed, through which the three parties will demand that the inhabitants of their territories be able to decide their constitutional future through popular consultations. The coordination represents a significant political fact as the parties currently governing the three decentralized nations hold positions favorable to abandoning the current structure of the United Kingdom.
Swinney stated that the current British scheme is "unsustainable" and has been calling for a new vote on Scottish independence, following the referendum held in 2014, when 55% of voters chose to remain within the United Kingdom.
From London, however, the British Government has so far maintained its refusal. Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham asserted that a new consultation in Scotland remains off the table as long as there is no clear and majority consensus justifying reopening the independence process.
In Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin has been advocating for reunification with the Republic of Ireland for decades. A party source stated that the Good Friday Agreement already establishes democratic mechanisms to decide the constitutional future of the territory and claimed that Irish unity should not be seen as a distant aspiration.
The discussion has also returned to the center of the agenda after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed during a visit to Dublin his desire to see a unified Ireland, statements that generated repercussions within British politics.
Trump claimed he could mediate between Argentina and the United Kingdom in the dispute over the Falklands.
In Wales, Plaid Cymru is also calling for a deepening of autonomy and new powers for Cardiff. Ap Iorwerth stated that his territory must be able to define its own future and suggested that cooperation with Scotland and Northern Ireland can serve to demand a different relationship with Westminster.
The summit on Monday does not itself imply the calling of referendums, but for the first time consolidates political coordination among the main independence movements of the three nations, increasing pressure on an increasingly weakened British Government.
