‘Fundamental questions’ about the future of the UK in Wales, Scotland and N Ireland says Sturgeon
The election results have shown that there are “fundamental questions” about the future of the UK across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Scottish First Minister has said.
As Thursday’s local election results were counted yesterday – and into today in Northern Ireland – it suggested an increasing deviation in voting patterns between the nations.
The Conservatives had better than expected results in England, but suffered heavy losses in Wales, while the SNP enjoyed a record win in Scotland, and Irish nationalist Sinn Fein seem set to become the largest party at the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time.
“There’s no doubt there are big fundamental questions being asked of the UK as a political entity right now,” Nicola Sturgeon said.
“They’re being asked here in Scotland, they’re being asked in Northern Ireland, they’re being asked in Wales and I think we’re going to see some fundamental changes to UK governance in the years to come and I am certain one of those changes is going to be Scottish independence.”
‘Equality’
But, regardless of the changes she predicts, the First Minister said all of the nations of the British Isles will continue to co-operate regardless.
“Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland – we already sit around the British Irish Council table, and we will continue to do so, no matter whether Scotland is independent or not,” she said.
“The British Isles is not going away and will continue to co-operate but, for Scotland, co-operating on the basis of equality as an independent country will be much, much better than the situation just now.”
Speaking from Dundee as she celebrated the SNP taking majority control of the city’s council, Ms Sturgeon was asked by PA what she thought motivated voters on Thursday.
“In this election, I think they were voting principally because they want more action on the cost of living crisis and they want to see the Westminster government step up, so it was a strong message on that,” she said.
“The SNP vote share went up, obviously the leading pro-independence party, and after the SNP the next big winners were the Greens -(anoher) pro-independence party. So I think that’s significant and we take a lot of heart from it.”
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“The Conservatives had better than expected results in England”
Did they? They lost over 340 seats. The Daily Mail themselves said that losing that many would be a ‘disaster’.
The rest of this article is spot on, but that part is disingenuous.
There was talk of the Conservatives maybe losing 800 seats, so ĺosing 340 in England would be seen as a better than expected result.
To liberate the national conversation about our constitutional future, Welsh Labour need to unhitch their organization from that of Sir Keir over the border. I understand that Mark Drakeford has already started the dialogue to achieve this. Good, if true.
He started it way back when he took over as FM in 2018. He even publicly fell out with Jeremy Corbyn over Corbyn’s refusal to grant more power to the Welsh party.
Haven’t had a lot of progress with Keir yet either though.
Looks like he came under “friendly fire” for it too – https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/welsh-labour-leader-has-begun-talks-to-remove-centralised-party-control-on-welsh-members
If he’s rebuffed again, what means do the Welsh members of Labour have to split off and form a genuinely independent Welsh Labour Party?
From an Ireland perspective it looks as if a United Ireland could be within grasp at last provided there is no ‘gerrymandering’ on the way.
Tiocfaidh ár lá
Still a long way to go In The North of Ireland.Remains to be seen if The DUP will play second fiddle in any power sharing arrangement.
Demands for a Border poll right now is just around 35 to 40% in favour.Just have to watch this space.
I suppose the fact that Fat Shanks has kept his live-in job and can still dress-up with the workers and get down with the kids is a win in his book. Councillors…ten a penny…in old money…
Congratulations to Nicola Sturgeon. Thrilled that the SNP wiped the floor with the Tories, Labour & Lib Dems in Scotland. The English media tried their utmost to sully her name when she entered an establishment forgetting to wear a mask, but it didn’t wash with Scots. There will be another Scottish referenda, especially seeing the current climate where Boris Johnson’s idiocracy in London are covertly & overtly attacking both Scottish & Welsh devolution has topped the ballance on favour of independence. And if Scots say no to independence for a second time will never have the opportunity again. I think… Read more »
We already suffer resource rape and we’re England’s dumping ground and sweat shop. Imagine if England had to actually negotiate for our Water and Energy 😂😂
“There’s no doubt there are big fundamental questions being asked of the UK as a political entity right now,” Nicola Sturgeon said. “They’re being asked here in Scotland, they’re being asked in Northern Ireland, they’re being asked in Wales and I think we’re going to see some fundamental changes to UK governance in the years to come and I am certain one of those changes is going to be Scottish independence.” So ? Has this only dawned on her now ? It’s been glaringly obvious for years and certainly since 2016 when Brexit suddenly woke a lot of people up… Read more »
Brexit a good idea?! What planet are you living on!? Brexit was always about the Elite getting rid of the the stop gap that is the EU, so they can roll back the clock. Has it really only just dawned on some Celts that that is the case 🙄😒j
Here’s a fundamental question for a seceding part of the UK Will the new state be a member of NATO, or will it be like Maldova, and risk being prey to Russian expansion without support from that alliance?
Would any seceding part of the UK find itself sharing a border with the Russian Federation or a former Soviet Republic? Then I would suggest that the question does not arise.
The Atlantic coast is a border, and the RAF intercepts Russian Aircraft on a regular basis.
So, the RAF patrols on behalf of another Sovereign state then, the Republic of Ireland. Thank you for disproving your own point 😂😂🤣🤣
The Tories have no majority in any Welsh Council. They’ve never had a majority at the Senedd/Assembly. They’ve not had a majority of Welsh MPs since 1859 which was before any semblance of a democratic franchise existed in Britain. Yet by dint of their majority in England, they govern Wales. This is democratically untenable. That’s before we consider Scotland & NI. I know that Welsh Labour understand this. It’s time they realised that they can’t save the UK no matter what sort of federal solution they seek. We could however look at a formal arrangement by which new Welsh, Scottish… Read more »
I had not thought of a Coalition of Nations between those of us on this Island 🤔 Sounds good to me 🙂
England’s progressives appear to me to be way off the curve on this. Reading the comments on this article shows how much ignorance and condescension the “British” Left still harbours towards Wales.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/03/the-guardian-view-on-welsh-local-elections-labour-is-seeing-off-nationalism?CMP=fb_cif
Always was thus and most likely always will be, unless their clear their heads on a lot of matters where they think they know better than anyone else. Much of the Guardian’s following can be regarded as “leftie-light” with lots of kite flying about their ideals but seldom will they support any movement that seems to be accumulating a dynamism unless that movement is spawned and largely controlled by them.