Swinney, O'Neill and ap Iorwerth sign a Cardiff self-determination memorandum
The SNP, Sinn Fein and Plaid Cymru leaders met as party chiefs, not as a joint government. They asked Westminster to prepare for constitutional change. John Swinney said a Scottish referendum should come within five years.
Cardiff2 min read
Last updated
John Swinney, Michelle O'Neill and Rhun ap Iorwerth signed a memorandum of understanding in Cardiff on Monday asserting that Scotland, Wales and Ireland have the right to decide their own constitutional futures. Mary Lou McDonald, president of Sinn Féin and leader of the opposition in the Dáil, joined them. The four posed with the text after a meeting at the St David's Hotel on Cardiff Bay.
They signed as party leaders, not as a single administration. Swinney is first minister of Scotland. Ap Iorwerth is first minister of Wales. O'Neill is first minister of Northern Ireland. The document itself is a political text. It does not authorise a referendum and it does not change the statutes that govern secession or Irish unification.
The memorandum says the three nations have distinct histories and that no Westminster government has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that their people decide their future. It notes that, for the first time, the first ministers in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are all committed to leaving the United Kingdom, and calls that fact a sign that Westminster's time is coming to an end. It asks the UK government to prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change.
Swinney told a joint press conference the summit was a pivotal moment in the UK's constitutional journey and that there should be no obstacle to the three nations choosing their path. He said Andy Burnham would be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom and that a Scottish independence referendum should be held within five years. He pointed to polling trends as evidence that Scots would vote to leave if asked.
The legal position is unchanged by the signatures. The Supreme Court has already held that the Scottish Parliament cannot legislate for an independence referendum on its own. A border poll in Northern Ireland sits under the Good Friday Agreement and is a decision for the Secretary of State when it appears likely that a majority would vote for a united Ireland. Wales has no equivalent statute. Plaid Cymru's demand is the least mapped of the three.
Burnham told the Commons last week that another Scottish referendum could be considered if there were a clear consensus. The Cardiff text is designed to turn that remark into pressure. It also papers over different clocks. Sinn Féin wants a unity poll on a Good Friday timetable. The SNP wants a second independence vote in this parliament if it can get one. Plaid is still building a Welsh majority that does not yet exist in the same way.
The four parties also talked about joint work on the economy, energy and international contacts. That is the practical half of the day. Shared bidding for investment and a common line on reserved powers are easier to deliver than a referendum date. The memorandum's audience is London, and also voters in each nation who have watched separate campaigns stall.
A signed document among nationalist parties is not a dissolution of the Union. It is a coordinated demand. The next move belongs to Westminster, which can ignore it, offer talks, or, in Burnham's formulation, wait for a consensus test that the SNP will now say has already been met.
