Leaders from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland joined forces in Cardiff on Monday, signing a joint memorandum calling for constitutional change and the right to self-determination.
Footage shows Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney, Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald arriving for the talks, meeting behind closed doors, posing for photographs and entering the conference room.
The four met in their party roles rather than as representatives of their respective governments.
Their memorandum backed the right of people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to decide their own constitutional futures through democratic means, while calling on Westminster to prepare for and facilitate any change.
It also pledged closer cooperation between the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Féin, despite their different end goals: independence for Scotland and Wales, and Irish reunification.
The Cardiff gathering produced a striking political first, with the First Minister posts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all held by politicians from parties seeking to dismantle the UK’s current constitutional set-up.
Ahead of the talks, Swinney declared the momentum behind serious constitutional change ‘undeniable’, while Sinn Fein continued its push for preparations for a referendum on Irish reunification.
Source: Viory
