The First Ministers of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will sign a landmark agreement on Monday aimed at putting pressure on Downing Street to hold referendums on independence.
SNP leader John Swinney, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth and Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill will meet in Cardiff on Monday, where they are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding pushing for referendums in their respective countries.
The trio will meet in their capacity as party leaders, rather than as officials in their respective governments.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald will also attend the meeting.
Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP has already said O’Neill has “not sought any agreement or permission from me to travel, attend or sign anything as First Minister”.
Successive UK governments have been consistently against the holding of referendums on separation since the 2014 vote in Scotland and hopes earlier this week of a softening position were dashed by Downing Street.
UK prime minister Andy Burnham told the Commons another vote in Scotland could be held if there was a “clear consensus” north of the border for it, but a letter sent to Swinney later clarified a referendum remained “off limits”.
The issue of a Border poll in Ireland has been thrust into the spotlight following weekend comments from Donald Trump in support of Irish unity.
Peadar Tóibín thinks big with hopes of more seats – and possibly holding balance of power
A Sinn Féin source said the Cardiff summit will be about “where the parties can work together to make a difference to people’s lives; and how each of our nations has the right to shape its own future through democratic means, guided by the will of its people”.
“In Ireland, the constitutional future belongs to the people of this island. The Good Friday Agreement gives us the democratic means to decide it, and now is the time to prepare seriously for that choice,” the source said.
“Irish unity is not a distant aspiration. The work of building the new Ireland must begin now.”
However, Little-Pengelly, the joint head of the Stormont powersharing Executive, accused Ms O’Neill of attempting to “weaponise the role of First Minister”.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Welsh First Minister Ap Iorwerth said: “We’re talking about how we can work together, let’s talk about what we have in common and what we don’t.”
“There’s also something that ties us together, isn’t there? That pursuit of a different attitude from UK government.
“It could be around the constitutional question, it could, more acutely, be around fair funding, making sure resource is shared in a way that is equitable, that feels fair, that we have the powers to build the future for the people that we represent.”
The meeting also comes after Scotland’s education secretary said another referendum was “not off the table”.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, Scottish education secretary Màiri McAllan said: “An independence referendum is not off the table. We devote time to it because it is the transformational change that allows Scotland to stand on its own two feet in the world and to fulsomely pursue the better that we want.” – PA