Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish Parties Declare Right To Break From UK

Leaders of the main Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh nationalist parties on Monday declared their right to choose whether to remain in the United Kingdom or become independent, following a rare meeting in the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

The three parties — the Scottish National Party, SNP, Plaid Cymru in Wales and the pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein — all support breaking away from the UK.

The meeting came days after United States President Donald Trump waded into the issue, saying he would support a united Ireland. Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, said the development showed that “the unity debate is very much alive ”

“Our nations have the right to self-determination. No Westminster government has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that our people will decide their own future,” the parties said in a memorandum of understanding.

SNP leader John Swinney, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald and deputy leader O’Neill met in their capacity as party leaders rather than as officials in their respective governments.

O’Neill is also Northern Ireland’s First Minister, while Iorwerth and Swinney are First Ministers of Wales and Scotland, respectively.

Announcing the agreement, Swinney said the three parties were “absolutely united by that principle of self-determination,” adding that it “lies at the heart of the agreement that we have signed today.”

“For the first time ever, people across these islands have first ministers in Scotland, in Wales and in the North of Ireland who are all committed to independence from the United Kingdom,” the memorandum stated.

It added, “The future of our nations belongs in the European Union.”

The independence parties are the biggest in both the Scottish and Welsh parliaments for the first time since devolution measures began in 1999, while Sinn Féin has been the biggest party in Northern Ireland’s assembly since 2022.

The regional parliaments have key powers over health, education, housing, transport, and environmental matters, as well as some taxation powers.

The agreement said there could be “no clearer sign that Westminster’s time is coming to an end,” describing the development as “momentum” for independence.

However, while the three parties are united in their desire to break away from the UK, they have differing positions on how and when this should happen.

The SNP wants a second independence referendum after Scotland narrowly voted to remain part of the UK in 2014. Successive UK governments have ruled out an immediate rerun.

Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army, wants a referendum on reunifying Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.

Plaid Cymru supports Welsh independence in the longer term, but Iorwerth has ruled out pushing for an immediate referendum.

In Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham sparked a sharp response from Sinn Fein in August, shortly after taking office, when he said a referendum on Irish unity was “off the table.”

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of conflict over British rule, provides for a referendum if the British government’s Northern Ireland minister believes a majority is likely to favour joining the Republic of Ireland.

Sinn Fein leader McDonald said Burnham had no authority to “remove any provision of the Good Friday Agreement,” prompting the prime minister to backtrack in parliament last week.

On Scotland, Burnham, a former mayor of Manchester and advocate of greater powers for English local authorities, told lawmakers that another independence vote could take place if there was a “clear consensus” north of the border for it.

He reportedly later sent a letter to Swinney clarifying that a referendum remained “off limits.”