THE IRISH NEWS:
Posted by Jim on May 11, 2026
Opinion
Constitutional change is firmly on the agenda in the UK and Ireland – The Irish News view
Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media on Saturday
By The Irish News
May 11, 2026 at 6:00am BST
While many groups have worked strenuously but unsuccessfully for decades towards encouraging the final break-up of the United Kingdom through constitutional means, the latest set of British elections have brought them closer than ever to realising their aims.
It is hugely significant that the first ministers of not only Northern Ireland and Scotland but now almost definitely Wales as well are fully committed to independence, and have a mandate to push the debate forward during their present terms of office.
The era of two major parties, Labour and the Conservatives, dominating proceedings at Westminster also seems to be over, with the next British government likely to be an unusual coalition which may further undermine the unionist position.
Whether such an arrangement involves Nigel Farage remains to be seen, as, although his Reform UK group is relentlessly growing at present, much can change before the next British general election is due in 2029.
However, if Mr Farage does play a key role, unionists will undoubtedly recall his comment to The Irish Times in 2023 – “One day there will be a United Ireland. But it’s not on the horizon immediately.”
The DUP was previously prepared to put its full trust in another colourful English nationalist, Boris Johnson, before coming to bitterly regret the association, and can only regard the Reform UK leader with considerable suspicion.
It is also increasingly clear that the days of Keir Starmer, an instinctive unionist, as British prime minister are numbered, as he has stumbled from one crisis to another until his Labour Party performed pitifully across England, Scotland and Wales last week.
His successor may well have a much more open mind than Mr Starmer on independence issues, as do many Labour MPs, with a different phase emerging during the wider debate.
The level of nationalist support has traditionally been weaker in Wales than in Scotland, so the surge to power of Plaid Cymru, one hundred years after it was formed, deserves to be regarded as an historic moment.
Labour’s Welsh collapse has been dramatic, and all the evidence is that it will remain in disarray there for the foreseeable future, with Plaid having an outstanding opportunity to consolidate its grip on the Senedd.
The Scottish National Party has emerged from a prolonged period of upheaval to become stronger than ever, and is entitled to step up its efforts to secure a second and potentially decisive referendum on independence.
We are in a period when the old certainties are being swept away, and constitutional change has moved from a distant prospect to an increasingly viable option in Scotland, Wales and plainly Ireland.