The first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Monday called on the British government to “prepare for, plan and facilitate” their independence, days after President Donald Trump expressed his support for Irish reunification.
“Westminster’s time is coming to an end,” John Swinney of Scotland, Rhun ap Iorwerth of Wales and Michelle O’Neill of Northern Ireland said in a joint declaration from the first summit of their new Celtic Alliance in Cardiff, Wales.
“We believe that constitutional change is coming,” they said. “We believe the future of our nations belongs in the European Union. … No Westminster government has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that our people will decide their own future.”
The declaration poses a challenge to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Scottish voters opted against seeking independence in 2014 by a 10.6-point margin, but the success of Brexit in 2016 spurred calls for a do-over. Independence now holds a narrow lead in the What Scotland Thinks poll tracker at the nonpartisan Scottish Center for Social Research.
Burnham told Swinney last week that a second referendum on the subject was “off limits.” Swinney has said he’ll hold a vote in 2031.
It’s the first time the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all been nationalists. Swinney leads the Scottish National Party, ap Iorwerth leads Plaid Cymru, and O’Neill leads Sinn Fein.
Trump, breaking with decades of U.S. neutrality on the sensitive issue, said Saturday he would “love to see” Irish reunification.
“It’s going to happen eventually,” he said in Dublin. “It might as well happen now.”
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