The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland signed a landmark agreement Monday, declaring their right to claim independence and urged the U.K. government to prepare for constitutional change.
With all three seeing their future as nations within the European Union, the rare meeting in the Welsh capital comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump waded in on the issue saying he would back a united Ireland.
His comments showed "the unity debate is very much alive," Northern Ireland's Michelle O'Neill said alongside fellow party leaders as they announced a memorandum of understanding.
All three parties – the Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru in Wales and the pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein – want to break away from the U.K.
"Our nations have the right to self-determination. No Westminster government (the U.K. government) has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that our people will decide their own future," the agreement said.
SNP leader John Swinney, Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru in Wales and Mary Lou McDonald and O'Neill, leader and deputy leader of pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein met in their capacity as party leaders, rather than as officials in their respective governments.
O'Neill is also Northern Ireland's first minister while Iorwerth and Swinney are first ministers of their respective nations.
Announcing the agreement, Swinney said the three parties were "absolutely united by that principle of self-determination."
For the first time, the nations each had first ministers "committed to independence from the United Kingdom," the agreement said, adding: "The future of our nations belongs in the European Union."
The independence parties are the biggest in both the Scottish and Welsh parliaments for the first time since devolution measures began in 1999. Sinn Fein has been the biggest party in Northern Ireland's assembly since 2022.
The regional parliaments of the United Kingdom – which comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have key powers on health, education, housing, transport and environment matters, along with some tax gathering.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said relatively little on devolution for the three nations since taking office in July.
A spokesperson for his Downing Street Office said Monday he believed "strongly in the Union," a reference to the constitutional union that makes Northern Ireland part of the U.K.
While the three parties are united in their desire to break away from the U.K. they have varying positions on how and when this might take place.
The SNP wants a second independence referendum after an earlier ballot in 2014 saw Scotland narrowly vote to remain part of Britain. Successive U.K. governments have ruled out an immediate rerun.
Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA), wants to see a vote on Ireland being reunified with the U.K. territory Northern Ireland.
Plaid Cymru seeks Welsh independence in the longer term but Iorwerth has ruled out pressing for any referendum immediately.
Burnham got a sharp response from Sinn Fein in August, shortly after taking power the previous month, when he said a referendum on Irish unity was "off the table."
The 1998 Good Friday peace agreement which largely ended three decades of conflict over British rule provides for a referendum if the British government's Northern Ireland minister believes a majority is likely to favor joining the Republic of Ireland.
Sinn Fein leader McDonald said the prime minister had no authority to remove any provisions of the agreement and Burnham backtracked in parliament last week.
The meeting and Trump's remarks sparked a range of opinions in Belfast.
"Ireland would be better off if it was one country and we were back in the EU," retiree Ray Dennison, 61, told AFP.
But Jim Boyle, a 64-year-old environmental worker, said the nationalist leaders' meeting filled him with "trepidation."
"Many years ago I may have wished for the break-up of the United Kingdom, now ... I just don't want anything that's unpredictable," he said.
On Scotland, Burnham told lawmakers there could be another vote if there was a "clear consensus" for it but later reportedly clarified that a referendum remained "off limits."
