The leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland signed a joint declaration in Cardiff on Monday asserting that their nations have the right to decide their own futures and that “Westminster’s time is coming to an end.”
“Our nations have the right to self-determination,” the declaration says. “No Westminster government has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that our people will decide their own future.” It calls on the UK government to “prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change,” and states that “the future of our nations belongs in the European Union.”
John Swinney of the Scottish National Party, Rhun ap Iorwerth of Plaid Cymru, and Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin are the First Ministers of their three nations, but they signed as party leaders, alongside Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald. The document is an agreement among their parties, not among the three governments. Swinney said the leaders were “absolutely united by that principle of self-determination,” which “lies at the heart of the agreement that we have signed today.”
After the signing, Swinney said he wants a referendum before the current Scottish Parliament term ends in 2031, and predicted that Andy Burnham “will be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom, because the people of Scotland, if given the choice of independence in a referendum will take that choice.” He also pressed Burnham on the reversal of last week. “When you say things to the House of Commons when you’re the prime minister, you should stick to them.”
Downing Street answered with the line it gave before the summit. “The Prime Minister is committed to delivering change across all four nations of the United Kingdom and believes strongly in the Union,” a UK government statement said. On Thursday, Burnham told Swinney in writing that independence and a referendum are “off limits,” a day after telling the Commons that a vote would follow a shift in public opinion.
The signing also sharpened a dispute inside Northern Ireland’s government. Its First Minister and deputy First Minister share a joint office with equal powers, and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party said O’Neill “has not sought any agreement or permission from me to travel, attend or sign anything as First Minister.” Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “hard work and not simplistic rhetoric or timelines are needed” on Irish unity.
A week ago the argument was over whether the Prime Minister had named a condition for a second referendum. On Monday the leaders of three of the four nations in the United Kingdom signed their names to a different claim: that the condition is not his to set. Downing Street’s reply was a sentence about believing in the Union.
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