Scottish, Welsh and Sinn Fein leaders claim UK exit right

Leaders of the main Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish nationalist parties said Monday that their nations have the right to decide whether to remain in the UK, after announcing a memorandum of understanding in Cardiff.

The Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein all want to break away from the UK, although under different timelines and conditions. Their agreement said no UK government had the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that their people would decide their own future.

“The future of our nations belongs in the European Union,” the agreement said.

SNP leader John Swinney, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill attended the meeting as party leaders, not as government representatives.

O'Neill said US President Donald Trump's recent comments backing a united Ireland showed “the unity debate is very much alive”.

The SNP wants another Scottish independence referendum after Scotland voted in 2014 to remain in Britain. Successive UK governments have ruled out an immediate rerun.

Sinn Fein wants a vote on Northern Ireland joining the Republic of Ireland. The 1998 Good Friday peace agreement provides for a referendum if Westminster's Northern Ireland minister believes a majority is likely to favour Irish unity.

Plaid Cymru seeks Welsh independence in the longer term, but Iorwerth has ruled out pressing for a referendum immediately.

The meeting drew criticism from pro-UK figures in Northern Ireland. Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party said O'Neill's position had been “weaponised” at what she called “a summit of separatists”.