Politics
The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to attend a key meeting to discuss a joint strategy for separation from the United Kingdom and independence.
The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to attend a key meeting to discuss a joint strategy for separation from the United Kingdom and independence. According to a foreign news agency, the three First Ministers will attend an extraordinary meeting in Cardiff, where they are expected to sign a joint declaration calling for the right to hold independence referendums.
Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Ireland’s main opposition party Sinn Féin, will also attend the meeting. The leaders of the three regions will call for the right to self-determination for their respective nations and seek to increase pressure on the constitutional future of the United Kingdom.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said that, for the first time, pro-independence First Ministers are in government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, sending a clear signal that the current situation is not sustainable. Addressing British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, John Swinney said he would have to face the possibility that history could remember him as the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The development comes at a time when British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament that another independence referendum could be allowed in Scotland if there is clear public support for it. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has also expressed support for a united Ireland, saying that he would like to see Ireland united and that Northern Ireland becoming part of the Republic of Ireland would be a good thing.
According to the British media, following the May elections, pro-independence parties have come to power in the three devolved nations for the first time, intensifying the debate over the unity of the United Kingdom and its future constitutional structure. Under the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland also has a pathway to a referendum on reunification with Ireland. However, such a referendum can be held only if it appears likely that a majority of people in Northern Ireland would vote in favors of leaving the United Kingdom.
