LAST UPDATE | 3 hrs ago

NORTHERN IRELAND FIRST Minister Michelle O’Neill has signed an agreement with her Scottish and Welsh counterparts pushing for constitutional change.

O’Neill, SNP leader John Swinney and Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at putting pressure on Downing Street to hold referendums on independence ahead of the meeting.

A joint statement committed to working together constructively “in the shared interests of our people”.

It said the three parties’ stances on independence signal to the world that Westminster’s time “is coming to an end”.

Along with Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald, the leaders called on the British government to “prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change”.

The group, who met in their capacity as party leaders – rather than as officials in their respective governments, also stated their ambitions for partnership around the economy, energy and international cooperation.

The agreement sets out plans to “reject Whitehall’s broken economic model” and share ideas on economic growth, expand energy resources, and states that “the future of our nations belongs in the European Union”.

The leaders add: “Our nations have the right to self-determination. No Westminster government has the right to block democracy or undermine the principle that our people will decide their own future.

“We recognise that our parties have different constitutional positions and that each nation will determine its own future in its own way and in its own time.

We call for the British Government to prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change in each jurisdiction.

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The meeting was planned in advance of Trump’s visit to Ireland at the weekend, during which he said he would “love to see” a unified Ireland.

Asked about his comments on Sky News this morning, O’Neill said they highlight “the fact that there is a growing conversation around constitutional change at home in Ireland”. 

“Without dwelling too much on his own commentary, I think it’s important to reflect the fact that there is a huge conversation underway in terms of Irish reunification,” she said.

“In two years’ time, we’ll celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, a peace agreement that was hard won, and for 28 years we’ve had a huge journey of bedding down the peace and ensuring prosperity for all of our people.”

She said that while “so much progress has been delivered”, the next stage of the journey “is absolutely around the issue of unification”.

The fact that so many people, including in an international way, are now engaged in that conversation tells you exactly where it’s at. This is something that’s happening. 

It is the first time ever that there are three nationalist and pro-independence first ministers at the head of devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

"It's not for any British prime minister to take [Irish reunification] off the table".

Nationalist Northern Irish First Minister Michelle O'Neill tells Sky News that Andy Burnham's recent comments were "quite insulting".

📺 Watch the full interview: https://t.co/g0ciNzwxw4 pic.twitter.com/eRybdwOVO0

— Ridge & Frost (@RidgeandFrost) September 14, 2026

O’Neill said her party, the SNP and Plaid Cymru have committed to working together on “how do we ensure that we get a collective voice that’s heard very strongly in Westminster”, where Scotland, Wales and the North are “always an afterthought”. 

Burnham comments ‘insulting’

“They will never serve our people well, and the message that we want Andy Burnham to take very much from our gathering today, and from the fact that we’re coming together in common purpose, is very much that it’s his job to plan and to facilitate a referendum.”

Burnham drew backlash from Sinn Féin during a visit to Belfast last month when he told reporters a referendum on a united Ireland is “off the table”. 

Asked if she realistically expected the British prime minister to grant an independence referendum during this parliament, O’Neill told Sky News that she “absolutely” expects Burnham “to live up to the commitment in the Good Friday Agreement”.

“He is the co-guarantor of that agreement, and in that agreement, it says that the people can decide their constitutional future,” she said. 

“It is not an option for him to remove it off the table. And to be quite frank, his commentary when he visited Belfast in the last few weeks was quite insulting, because it’s not for any British Prime Minister to take it off the table.”

Reflecting on the fact that a Labour government helped to create the Good Friday Agreement, she said she hoped Burnham would take “the right approach”. 

He can choose to rinse and repeat the mistakes of Brexit, or he can choose to do something differently. I hope he chooses that better path.

“Let’s facilitate the conversation around constitutional change: what can it look like? How can we improve people’s lives? Because ultimately, that’s what it should all be about.”

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”.

She accused O’Neill of attempting to “weaponise the role of First Minister”.

In a social media post she said: “Let me be absolutely clear. Michelle O’Neill is not travelling to this ‘summit’ as First Minister, she has no authority to present herself as representing the FM role at any such ‘summit’ and nor does she have any authority to sign anything as First Minister of Northern Ireland at any such ‘summit’.”

Asked about her comments on RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh, Mary Lou McDonald said O’Neill ”doesn’t need the permission of anybody to travel here”.

“She is here as Leas Uachtarán Shinn Féin,” she said.

“She and I, as Uachtarán and Leas-Uachtarán, have absolutely the authority and backing of our political party, of everybody who supports us, and everybody beyond that who understands that Ireland’s future now, the next chapter is we are about to write it.”

She added: “Responsible leaders like Michelle and I believe in doing the hard work, believe in collaborating and building those connections, and we are in Cardiff just to demonstrate that.”

Successive UK governments have been consistently against the holding of referendums on separation since the 2014 vote in Scotland and hopes last week of a softening position were dashed by Downing Street.

With reporting from Press Association