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Why the United Kingdom is facing new calls for independence · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have said that, quote,
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  Speaker 1: Westminster's time is coming to an end as they met
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to declare their support for becoming independent nations and leave
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the United Kingdom. They also signed a memorandum of understanding
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: on the issue. It's the first time that all three
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: countries have a nationalist leader as the head of their
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: respective regional governments. Despite their calls, the latest polling shows
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  Speaker 1: that no country currently has a majority in favour of
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: leaving the UK. Under the current system, each country has
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: significant devolved powers, such as healthcare and education. However, London
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: is responsible for matters including security, tax and immigration. Now
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  Speaker 1: let's take a listen to what the First Minister of Scotland,
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  Speaker 1: John Swinney, had to say.
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  Speaker 2: The first time in history There are First Ministers in Scotland,
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  Speaker 2: Wales and Northern Ireland who believe that their countries should
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  Speaker 2: decide their own future. That principle of self-determination is an
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  Speaker 2: inalienable right for our peoples to express. Now, we will
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  Speaker 2: each individually be responsible for our own journeys, but we
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  Speaker 2: are absolutely united by that principle of self-determination.
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  Speaker 1: Our DW correspondent Birgit Maas is joining me from London
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  Speaker 1: for more on this. Birgit, as we just heard, this
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  Speaker 1: is the first time that pro-independence or pro-unification parties have
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  Speaker 1: led governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the
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  Speaker 1: same time, which are all part of the United Kingdom.
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  Speaker 1: Is this a real challenge to the future of the UK?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's definitely a development that the relatively new Prime Minister,
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  Speaker 3: Andy Burnham, cannot ignore. And as you said, Gerhard, we've
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  Speaker 3: had these nationalist parties around for some time, and some
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  Speaker 3: of them have been also leading in the polls, for example,
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  Speaker 3: in Scotland for a while. But it's the first time
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  Speaker 3: that they have all come together and that there is
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  Speaker 3: this sort of collective push towards independence. Now, it doesn't
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  Speaker 3: mean that they're all going to break free imminently in
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  Speaker 3: the next months or maybe even years, because this is
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  Speaker 3: not going to be easy. There's a lot of process
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  Speaker 3: to follow and there are votes to win. So the
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  Speaker 3: devil will be in the detail. But it's definitely a headache,
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  Speaker 3: I think, for Prime Minister Andy Burnham. And he needs
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  Speaker 3: to just develop a strategy and see how he deals
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  Speaker 3: with that.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have very different
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  Speaker 1: histories and identities. Can you briefly explain what's driving calls
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  Speaker 1: for independence or separation in each of them?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, so if we start with Wales, that's maybe the
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  Speaker 3: most straightforward. So we have had a... It's been always
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  Speaker 3: a Labour, a very safe seat for Labour, has been
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  Speaker 3: a Labour regional government for a while, and now for
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  Speaker 3: the first time we have the Welsh nationalists. So I
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  Speaker 3: think this was interpreted as... Well, unhappiness with the status quo.
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  Speaker 3: So Wales traditionally always the voters are to the left
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  Speaker 3: of the rest of England. So this unhappiness resulted in
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  Speaker 3: voting for the populists, but not for the right wing
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  Speaker 3: populist reform party. but for the more left-wing nationalists. And
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  Speaker 3: this is, in a way, their first move, their first
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  Speaker 3: really big move since they've come to power earlier in
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  Speaker 3: the year. When we look at Scotland, also the voters
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  Speaker 3: in Scotland are traditionally to the left of England, and
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  Speaker 3: they have had the Scottish nationalists in their devolved government
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  Speaker 3: for decades. But they have had a referendum, and that's
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  Speaker 3: not very long ago. It was only in 2014. and
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  Speaker 3: the Scottish Nationalists lost that referendum at the time, and
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  Speaker 3: it was by quite a substantive margin, so it wasn't
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  Speaker 3: a very narrowly lost referendum for them. But, of course,
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  Speaker 3: what has changed then was Brexit. Since then, Britain has,
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  Speaker 3: the United Kingdom has decided to leave the European Union,
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  Speaker 3: and the Nationalists are arguing that this is, well, it's
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  Speaker 3: a new reality, and that also mandates for them a
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  Speaker 3: new push towards independence. Northern Ireland, I think, is the
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  Speaker 3: most complex out of the three because, of course, in
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  Speaker 3: Northern Ireland you have this history of trouble, of conflict,
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  Speaker 3: and it took a long time and it took a
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  Speaker 3: lot of people. It took the European Union, it took
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  Speaker 3: the US, it took, of course, the British government, and
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  Speaker 3: it took the Republicans within Northern Ireland to come to
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  Speaker 3: a really historic agreement, the Good Friday Agreement, that has
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  Speaker 3: solved a lot of the problems and that has ended
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  Speaker 3: the armed conflict. And across the world, this is seen
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  Speaker 3: as a blueprint of how successful negotiations can actually solve
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  Speaker 3: a problem that many would have seen for decades as
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  Speaker 3: something that you can't solve. And a war, a civil war,
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  Speaker 3: has ended. Now, this was possible because Northern Ireland and
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  Speaker 3: also the Republic of Ireland were part of the European Union.
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  Speaker 3: So the Good Friday Agreement was really very much tied
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  Speaker 3: to being a member of the European Union, which meant
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  Speaker 3: going back and forth over the border between Northern Ireland
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  Speaker 3: and Ireland. It was very, very easy. Now, Brexit has
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  Speaker 3: brought complications to this and, in a way, also opened
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  Speaker 3: up this question of independence or of reunification with the
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  Speaker 3: Republic of Ireland. So, It's going to be very, very complex,
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  Speaker 3: but it's the biggest problem, I think, for the nationalist
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  Speaker 3: politicians that they need to solve in Northern Ireland.
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  Speaker 1: Three mini-Brexits on the horizon there. What would it mean
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  Speaker 1: for the UK if one or more of these nations
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  Speaker 1: eventually chose to become independent?
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  Speaker 3: Well, for the UK, of course, it would be a
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  Speaker 3: thing for the Prime Minister who had to oversee that.
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  Speaker 3: It would be an absolute catastrophe, a defeat, because it
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  Speaker 3: would be a loss of influence. It would be a
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  Speaker 3: loss of power. It would potentially mean more conflict in
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  Speaker 3: Northern Ireland along the border with Ireland. A lot of
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  Speaker 3: people are very unhappy because you don't have... proper majorities,
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  Speaker 3: you know, really solid majorities for leaving the United Kingdom.
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  Speaker 3: So there will be a lot of unhappiness. And when
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  Speaker 3: we look at Scotland, also, it's the added difficulty that
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  Speaker 3: Scotland holds the nuclear submarine. So they are the deterrent
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  Speaker 3: for Britain, but also for the rest of Europe in
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  Speaker 3: a way. So you've got that defense angle. So Andy Burnham,
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  Speaker 3: the new prime minister, has said that he's for devolution,
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  Speaker 3: he wants to bring powers back into local communities, but
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  Speaker 3: I don't think he's thought about giving up power in
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  Speaker 3: that big, massive way.
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  Speaker 1: Our London correspondent Birgit Maas there reporting. Thank you, Birgit.