The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland meet in Cardiff today as constitutional change moves increasingly into the political debate across the three devolved nations. ItalyNews will return to the issue with an in-depth analysis after the conclusion of the talks.
London — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland may increasingly find themselves looking towards constitutional change, but they are not travelling along the same road.
Political leaders meeting in Cardiff today bring together three very different constitutional questions: Scottish independence, Welsh independence and the possibility of Irish reunification. What unites them is a growing debate over the future shape of the United Kingdom. What separates them is perhaps even more important.
Northern Ireland already has a specific constitutional mechanism for a possible referendum on reunification under the framework established by the Good Friday Agreement. Scotland has already held an independence referendum, in 2014, but a new vote raises a different constitutional dispute over the powers of Edinburgh and Westminster. Wales, meanwhile, is experiencing a growing political debate over independence, but from a very different historical, electoral and constitutional starting point.
For this reason, describing Cardiff simply as a meeting of three independence movements would risk missing the more interesting question.
Can three different constitutional paths begin to produce one common political challenge to Westminster?
The answer may become clearer only when the Cardiff talks are concluded and the final documents and statements can be examined.
ItalyNews will publish an in-depth analysis after the conclusion of the meeting, examining what was actually agreed, what remains politically aspirational, and what the three very different constitutional frameworks could mean for the future of the United Kingdom.
