Devolved Leaders Meet on Referendums
The first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland meet in Cardiff on Monday to sign a memorandum of understanding that asserts a right to self-determination and presses London for independence votes – the first time all three devolved governments have been led by pro-independence parties at once.
John Swinney of the SNP, Rhun ap Iorwerth of Plaid Cymru and Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin will gather at the St David’s Hotel on Cardiff Bay. Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin’s president and leader of the opposition in the Irish Dáil, will join them and after the talks, they will hold a news conference.
The Telegraph reports that the paper will cover four headings: the economy, energy, Europe and international cooperation, and self-determination. All three parties will say their nations should be in the European Union – Scotland and Wales as new members, Northern Ireland as part of a united Ireland; and will pledge closer ties with European “neighbours” in preparation for independence. The economic chapter will argue that the United Kingdom’s model is not working for people in the three nations.
The timing is deliberate. Last week Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the Commons that the test for another Scottish referendum was “exactly the same situation in Scotland” as in Northern Ireland. Under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement a unity poll can be called if it “appears likely” a majority in Northern Ireland would leave the UK. There is no equivalent automatic trigger for Scotland.
On Thursday Burnham wrote to Swinney that another Scottish vote was “off limits” before the next general election, that Labour’s 2024 manifesto ruled out independence or a referendum, and that there was “no consensus” in Scotland and “no clear basis” to say most people in Northern Ireland now want to leave. An SNP source close to Swinney told The Telegraph the prime minister had mixed the two cases and “doesn’t seem to know the basics of the UK Government’s position on the Union.”
Swinney said on Sunday the alignment of the three governments showed “the status quo is not sustainable” and that Westminster “must prepare for a post-UK future.” He said Burnham must face the idea he could be “the final prime minister of the United Kingdom.” A Sinn Féin source said Irish unity was “not a distant aspiration” and that “the work of building the new Ireland must begin now.” Plaid Cymru wants more tax and spending power, Crown Estate receipts from the Welsh seabed, a replacement for the Barnett formula and further devolution of policing and rail. A party source spoke of “practical political cooperation” as well as the constitutional claim.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, in Dublin on Saturday, said he would “love” a united Ireland, calling it “a great thing” and asked: “How can it be bad?”. Burnham has made English devolution a centrepiece of his premiership while nationalist leaders try to lock him into a wider constitutional fight.
