{"id":29658,"date":"2026-09-14T15:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T12:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=29658"},"modified":"2026-09-14T15:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T12:36:24","slug":"memorandum-self-determination-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/memorandum-self-determination-britain\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK is on the brink of a new crisis: three regions are calling for referendums"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">The leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn F\u00e9in have signed a memorandum in which they affirmed the right of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to determine their own constitutional future. The parties called on the UK government not to block referendums on the matter and linked the future of their countries to the European Union. The document does not initiate any legal procedure for the regions to leave the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The memorandum brought together three nationalist parties that lead regional governments.<\/li>\n<li>Scotland and Wales are striving for independence, whilst Sinn F\u00e9in is campaigning for the unification of Ireland.<\/li>\n<li>The meeting was organised at party level and does not alter the legal framework of the UK.<\/li>\n<li>The signatories see their countries\u2019 future within the European Union.<\/li>\n<li>London does not support a new referendum on Scottish independence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>A party agreement without the changes having been formally implemented<\/h2>\n<p>The document was signed in Cardiff by the leader of the Scottish National Party and the First Minister of Scotland <strong>John Swinney<\/strong>, leader of Plaid Cymru and First Minister of Wales <strong>Rune up Iorwert<\/strong>, First Minister of Northern Ireland and Vice-President of Sinn F\u00e9in <strong>Michelle O\u2019Neill<\/strong>, as well as the president of Sinn F\u00e9in <strong>Mary Lou McDonald<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The signatories stated that the political situation in the British Isles is changing, and noted in the text of the memorandum: \u00abThe era of Westminster is coming to an end\u00bb. They emphasised that, for the first time, the governments of all three regions are led by politicians from parties that support a change to their constitutional status.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the meeting took place on behalf of the party leaders, not the governments. Therefore, <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/deklaratsiya-samovyznachennya-trioh-natsiy\/\">memorandum<\/a> is a political declaration and does not, in itself, trigger the procedure for any territory to leave the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<h2>The Scottish and Welsh paths to independence<\/h2>\n<p>The SNP is calling for a second referendum on Scottish independence. In the 2014 referendum, 55.3% of voters supported the country remaining part of the United Kingdom, whilst 44.7% voted in favour of independence. Following Brexit, the party is insisting on a new vote, arguing that a majority of Scots supported EU membership in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Swinn stated that Scotland\u2019s future should be decided by its people, and that the UK government should not stand in the way of a second referendum. Plaid Cymru takes a similar stance on Wales, proposing the creation of an independent state with close integration with Europe.<\/p>\n<p>According to opinion polls cited by The Guardian, around 32% of the population of Wales and around 47% of the population of Scotland support independence.<\/p>\n<h2>A separate procedure is in place for Northern Ireland<\/h2>\n<p>Sinn F\u00e9in does not propose the creation of a separate Northern Irish state, but advocates its unification with the Republic of Ireland. The 1998 Belfast Agreement provides for the possibility of a \u2018border poll\u2019 \u2013 a referendum on the unification of the island \u2013 should the British Government consider it likely that such a decision would be supported by a majority of the population of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Michelle O\u2019Neill said <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/trump-united-ireland-dublin-reaction\/\">the unification of Ireland<\/a> a genuine political project, rather than a purely theoretical question. The debate was also given added resonance by a statement made by US President Donald Trump during his visit to Ireland: he said he would like to see a united island \u00absooner rather than later\u00bb.<\/p>\n<h2>The European agenda and joint cooperation<\/h2>\n<p>In the party\u2019s memorandum, they stated explicitly: \u00abThe future of our countries lies in the European Union.\u00bb Should Scotland and Wales gain independence, they would seek integration with the EU. For Northern Ireland, unification with the Republic of Ireland would mean becoming part of a member state of the bloc.<\/p>\n<p>The signatories also agreed to deepen their cooperation in the fields of the economy, energy and international politics. They regard Brexit as one of the factors fuelling separatist sentiment in parts of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<h2>London rejects a new referendum in Scotland<\/h2>\n<p>The British Government has denied claims that the country is bound to break up. <strong>Andy Burnham<\/strong> stated that the government is committed to preserving the United Kingdom and is focusing on the economy, the cost of living and public services, rather than on new constitutional referendums.<\/p>\n<p>In its reply to Parliament on 10 September, the Government confirmed that it supports neither Scottish independence nor a new referendum. At the same time, Burnham acknowledged that, given a sustained majority in favour of independence, the issue of a referendum for Scotland could be addressed on a basis similar to the procedure for Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>The transition from a memorandum to a vote will depend on public support in each region and London\u2019s willingness to agree to the relevant procedures.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have signed a memorandum on self-determination and called on London not to block referendums.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433346,"featured_media":29657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u041b\u0456\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0438 \u0428\u043e\u0442\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0456\u0457, \u0423\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441\u0443 \u0439 \u041f\u0456\u0432\u043d\u0456\u0447\u043d\u043e\u0457 \u0406\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0456\u0457 \u043f\u0456\u0434\u043f\u0438\u0441\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u043c\u0435\u043c\u043e\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0443\u043c \u043f\u0440\u043e \u0441\u0430\u043c\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0437\u043d\u0430\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0442\u0430 \u0437\u0430\u043a\u043b\u0438\u043a\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u041b\u043e\u043d\u0434\u043e\u043d \u043d\u0435 \u0431\u043b\u043e\u043a\u0443\u0432\u0430\u0442\u0438 \u0440\u0435\u0444\u0435\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0434\u0443\u043c\u0438.","rank_math_title":"\u0428\u043e\u0442\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0456\u044f, \u0423\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441 \u0456 \u041f\u0456\u0432\u043d\u0456\u0447\u043d\u0430 \u0406\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0456\u044f \u0432\u0438\u043c\u0430\u0433\u0430\u044e\u0442\u044c \u0440\u0435\u0444\u0435\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0434\u0443\u043c","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0440\u0435\u0444\u0435\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0434\u0443\u043c","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[805624],"class_list":["post-29658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-805624"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433346"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29659,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29658\/revisions\/29659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}