Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh party leaders assert right to ‘self-determination’ at rare meeting

By AFP 14 September 2026, 1:32 pm

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(L to R) Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) leader John Swinney, Rhun ap Iorwerth of Plaid Cymru in Wales, Mary Lou McDonald, president of Irish Republicans Sinn Fein and Michelle O’Neill, vice president of Irish Republicans Sinn Fein pose together with a memorandum of understanding as they attend a meeting in Cardiff, Wales on September 14, 2026, to press for self-determination votes in their territories. (Adrian DENNIS/AFP)

The leaders of the main Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh parties declare their right to “self determination” in a joint agreement signed at a rare meeting in the Welsh capital Cardiff.

“Our nations have the right to self-determination. No Westminster government has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that our people will decide their own future,” they say in a memorandum of understanding referring to the UK-wide parliament in London.

All three parties — the Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru in Wales and the pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland — want to break away from the UK but have different positions on how and when this might take place.