Quebec, Scotland and Wales Put Independence Parties in Power in 2026

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon was sworn in as premier of Quebec on October 21 and named a minister responsible for independence to his cabinet, The Globe and Mail reported. He joins John Swinney in Scotland and Rhun ap Iorwerth in Wales, both chosen after elections in May, as heads of government whose parties seek independence. In September, Swinney and ap Iorwerth signed a statement with Northern Ireland’s first minister that each of their nations “has the right to determine its own future.”

Quebec

The Parti Quebecois won the October 5 election with 60 of the National Assembly’s 127 seats, four short of a majority, on 28 percent of the vote, Al Jazeera reported. It last governed from 2012 to 2014, and its win ended eight years of Coalition Avenir Quebec government.

St-Pierre Plamondon campaigned on holding a third referendum on leaving Canada during his first term, as the Texian Partisan reported when he took office. Quebec voted on sovereignty in 1980 and 1995 and said no both times, the second time by about one point.

Scotland

On May 26, the Scottish Parliament voted 72 to 55 for a government motion asking Westminster to transfer the power to hold a second independence referendum, through an order under Section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998, the Parliament’s record shows. First Minister John Swinney moved it. “Today I seek confirmation from this parliament that this is a voluntary union,” he told members, Holyrood magazine reported.

The vote followed the May 7 election, in which the Scottish National Party (SNP) won 58 seats and the Scottish Greens 15, a pro-independence majority of 73 in the 129-seat parliament, according to the Scottish Parliament’s research service. A Downing Street spokesperson said the British government “does not support independence or another referendum,” STV reported. Swinney has since vowed to keep pressing for one.

Wales

Plaid Cymru won 43 of the Senedd’s 96 seats on May 7, with about 35 percent of the vote, and Rhun ap Iorwerth formed a minority government. The Senedd confirmed him as First Minister on May 12. He is the first First Minister since devolution in 1999 to come from a party other than Welsh Labour. Plaid had governed before only as a junior partner.

Cardiff, September 14

The three first ministers met in Cardiff on September 14. Swinney and ap Iorwerth signed the Cardiff Agreement, a framework for cooperation between the Scottish and Welsh governments, according to the research service.

The same day, as party leaders, Swinney, ap Iorwerth and Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, signed a memorandum of understanding among the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein, joined by Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald. “Each of our nations has the right to determine its own future,” it says, and “each nation will determine its own future in its own way and in its own time.” It also says: “For the first time ever, there are first ministers in Scotland, in Wales and in the North of Ireland who are all committed to independence from the United Kingdom.” Holyrood magazine published the full text.

The SNP and Plaid seek independence. Sinn Fein seeks a united Ireland.

Texas

On November 3, Greenland’s parliament approved a security agreement that would bind an independent Greenland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as the Texian Partisan reported. Texas independence was not on any ballot that day. Bills to put the question to Texas voters were filed in 2021 and 2023. Both were sent to the House State Affairs Committee and died there without a hearing.

Elsewhere this year, the question moved through legislatures. A Quebec referendum, if it comes, will put a question adopted by the National Assembly. Scotland’s request for one was a vote of the Scottish Parliament. In Texas, the Texas Independence Referendum Act, the model legislation of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), would send the question to a statewide vote. Prefiling for the 90th Legislature opens November 9, and the session convenes January 12, 2027.

In each of those places, the people whose future was at issue acted through a legislature of their own. Texas has one, and it meets in January.