Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Parties Sign Pact Challenging UK Union

The governing nationalist parties of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have signed a joint agreement calling for greater self-determination and outlining a path toward independence from the United Kingdom.

The agreement was signed at a meeting in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, on Monday. Signatories included Scottish First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader John Swinney, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, Northern Ireland First Minister and Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill, and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Although Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own devolved parliaments or assemblies, they remain constituent parts of the United Kingdom rather than independent sovereign states.

Following the signing, Sinn Féin said UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham would not be able to prevent what it described as an inevitable breakup of the union.

Speaking at a joint press conference, O’Neill said the three nations were going through “a huge and inevitable change” and argued that no UK prime minister could stop the movement toward greater self-government.

She said Westminster had failed to deliver for their populations and insisted that the three nations had a right to determine their own futures. O’Neill also pointed to recent comments by US President Donald Trump expressing support for a united Ireland, saying they demonstrated growing international interest in the issue.

The agreement states that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the right to self-determination. It says each nation should decide independently, according to its own circumstances and timetable, whether to leave the United Kingdom. The parties also pledged that the regions would seek to rejoin the European Union following independence.

The pact follows Plaid Cymru’s victory in Wales’s election in May, which brought all three nationalist parties into government in their respective nations for the first time.

Opposition parties have strongly criticized the new alliance. Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said many people in Scotland would be angered by Swinney’s cooperation with Sinn Féin, which he accused of seeking to dismantle the United Kingdom.

Tory shadow Scottish secretary Harriet Cross said the prime minister’s recent remarks had given nationalist leaders fresh ammunition in their campaign to break up the UK.

A spokesperson for the prime minister, meanwhile, said the United Kingdom was strongest as a united country. The government, the spokesperson added, was focused on improving people’s economic security rather than engaging in constitutional disputes or pursuing new independence referendums.