{"id":769764,"date":"2026-09-13T22:26:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T22:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/769764\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T22:26:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T22:26:18","slug":"irish-scottish-welsh-leaders-meet-monday-over-plan-to-leave-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/769764\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish, Scottish, Welsh leaders meet Monday over plan to leave UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">The trio of Wales and Northern Ireland and Scotland are planning to leave the United Kingdom and will sign a joint declaration to demand self-determination on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Telegraph on Sunday reported that leaders of the three countries would meet in Cardiff, Wales\u2019 capital, to discuss the possibility of exiting the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four nations, including England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, make up the United Kingdom. In 1707, England and Scotland formally came together to form Great Britain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Ireland joined the union in 1801. While a large part of Ireland became independent in 1922, Northern Ireland remained part of the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The planned meeting came amid heightened debates over Scottish independence and Irish reunification.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MOU, designed to kick-start the process, is expected to be signed by Scotland\u2019s First Minister John Swinney, Wales\u2019 First Minister Rhun ap Iowerth, and Northern Ireland\u2019s First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The countries\u2019 plan to leave the UK came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump, said he would love to see a united Ireland during his visit to Dublin on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mr Trump explained that it would be great to see Northern Ireland join the Republic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, on Wednesday, said he would authorise another Scottish referendum if there was clear consensus for one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Monday\u2019s meeting is expected to deepen pressure on Mr Burnham to authorise the referendum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With John Swinney of the SNP in Scotland, Rhun ap Iorwerth of Plaid Cymru in Wales and Michelle O\u2019Neill of Sinn F\u00e9in in Northern Ireland, the three devolved nations are for the first time making pro-independence move.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, Mr Swinney on Sunday described the status quo as unsustainable, insisting that the momentum behind serious constitutional change was undeniable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor the first time, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are led by pro-independence first ministers. There could be no clearer sign that the status quo is not sustainable\u2013and that Westminster must prepare for a post-UK future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAndy Burnham must now be facing up to the idea that he will go down in history as the final prime minister of the United Kingdom. Tomorrow in Cardiff, I am looking forward to discussing a better future with partners from across these islands\u2013and that only comes with the fresh start of independence,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the meeting, the first ministers are expected to hold a press conference with their agreement covering four areas, including economy, energy, Europe and international cooperation and self-determination.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/gazettengr.com\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 100%;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Artboard-14.png\" alt=\"Banner\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trio of Wales and Northern Ireland and Scotland are planning to leave the United Kingdom and will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2188,59,57,58,61276,50,1647,41468,2261,56,54,55,254106,254107],"class_list":["post-769764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-cardiff","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-irish","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scottish","tag-telegraph","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-capital","tag-welsh-leaders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}