Nationalist parties from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland discuss secession from Great Britain

Representatives of nationalist parties from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have announced talks about a possible secession from Great Britain. At the meeting this Monday in Cardiff, Wales, they wanted to push for independence referendums in these official British parts of the country. The British government was asked to “prepare constitutional changes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland,” it said in a letter.

It was signed by Scottish Prime Minister John Swinney of the Scottish National Party (SNP), the leader of the Welsh pro-autonomy party Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth, and Michelle O'Neill of Northern Ireland's Irish republican Sinn Fein party. Together they wanted to “explore specific areas of cooperation in the areas of economics, energy and European and international cooperation,” they said.

The meeting of the three party leaders is the first of its kind. It takes place just a few days after US President Donald Trump's statements about a united Ireland. A reunification of the Republic of Ireland with Northern Ireland would be “a great thing,” Trump said after a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin. "I'd love to see it reunited."

Britain rejects referendum

Great Britain immediately rejected US President Trump's demand for a reunified Ireland. A referendum on whether Northern Ireland should remain in the United Kingdom is still not under discussion, Prime Minister Andy Burnham's office said. A referendum on whether Northern Ireland should leave the United Kingdom is “off the table,” he said in August.

Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, a referendum on Northern Ireland's withdrawal from the United Kingdom can only be held at the discretion of the British government. At the time, the agreement ended three decades of violence between Irish nationalists who wanted a united Ireland and unionists who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom