Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson intends to meet with the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This is stated in a letter from the head of the British government to the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.
The document was published on the Downing Street website.
The stated goal of the talks is to discuss an action plan after the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
As Johnson wrote, the United Kingdom should take measures to restore the economy, restart the work of government and educational institutions.
“In this regard, given your commitment to recovery (after the pandemic. -
RT
), I would like to invite you to join me, colleagues in the UK government and others at the summit to discuss the challenges we face and how to in the coming months and years, we can work together to resolve them, ”the British prime minister said in a letter.
According to Johnson, the participants of the future meeting will express “their views and ideas, and they will not always agree,” nevertheless, he expressed confidence that “by exchanging experience, we will be able to normalize the situation more effectively - in the interests of the people. whom we serve. "
"The right to choose the future"
According to experts interviewed by RT, the real reason for the meeting lies in the negative election results for London in the autonomous regions.
Voting in the UK took place on May 6, the so-called "Super Thursday".
Despite the overall success of the ruling Conservative Party, in the elections for Scottish Holyrood and Welsh Cenedd, it was heavily inferior to rivals - the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Labor.
So, SNP actually repeated the success of 2016, having received almost half of the seats in the country's parliament.
According to the results of the vote on May 6, in the new composition of the legislative body, out of 129 seats, Scottish nationalists will occupy 64, Conservatives - 31, Labor - 22, Greens - 8, Liberal Democrats - 4.
Commenting on the election results, Sturgeon stressed that the SNP and its supporters are in favor of a referendum to withdraw from the United Kingdom.
But under UK law, Edinburgh must get Holyrood's consent and then London's support to organize a referendum.
Without the approval of the UK government, which is now under the control of the Conservatives, this kind of vote is impossible.
Recall that the previous plebiscite took place on September 18, 2014.
44.7% were in support of the country's independence, 55.3% were against.
Nevertheless, the nationalists did not abandon the idea of self-determination.
At the end of 2019, Sturgeon sent an official request to London to hold a new referendum.
In response, Johnson told Scotland's first minister that the UK government was not going to approve a plebiscite to secede the region.
“You and your predecessor personally made a promise that the 2014 independence referendum would be a once-in-a-generation event,” Johnson said at the time when asked by the Scottish side.
Since then, the position of the British prime minister has remained unchanged.
However, Sturgeon, as before, insists on the need for a second vote to determine the fate of Scotland and requires London not to obstruct.
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon
Reuters
© Russell Cheyne
“Given the results of the past elections, there is no democratic reason for Boris Johnson or anyone else to seek to deprive the Scots of the right to choose their future,” Sturgeon said at the end of the election.
According to the Scottish First Minister, any attempt to prevent the organization of the referendum will be a convincing demonstration that "Great Britain is not a partnership of equals, and that, surprisingly, Westminster no longer perceives Great Britain as a voluntary union of nations."
Sturgeon has not yet named the expected date for the plebiscite on independence.
She considers it reasonable that the vote should take place after the final end of the pandemic and the economic crisis it caused.
According to the British media, taking into account the alignment of forces in the new composition of Holyrood on the issue of organizing a plebiscite, the SNP will most likely be supported by the “greens”.
As a result, such a coalition will have 72 votes, that is, almost 56% of the total number of legislators.
A contradictory situation for London also developed in Wales, where the Laborites strengthened their positions in Cenedda.
The Labor Party received 30 mandates.
The Guardian attributes its success to the defeat of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which won seven seats in 2016 when the Brexit referendum was held.
UKIP, which was previously headed by Nigel Farage, is known for being right-wing and advocating Britain's exit from the European Union (on January 1, 2021, the United Kingdom officially ceased to be a member of the EU).
True, the devaluation of the ideas and popularity of UKIP turned out to be to a certain extent in the hands of the conservatives - they were able to get 16 seats in the elections to the Welsh parliament.
Commenting on the results of the Cenedd vote, First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, called on Johnson to "reset" relations between London and the autonomous regions of the United Kingdom.
According to him, interaction between the parliaments of Great Britain, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should be carried out on a basis that is more respectful of sovereignty.
“It seems to me that such a UK has the most chances to survive, since it will be the UK, in which people want to be of their own free will, and not by someone else's direction,” Drakeford emphasized.
"Be ahead of the curve"
In a commentary to RT, Alexander Tevdoy-Burmuli, associate professor of the MGIMO Department of Integration Processes, said that Johnson was forced to respond to not very favorable election results in the autonomous regions.
The headache of the British Prime Minister, as, indeed, of the entire central leadership of the United Kingdom, remains the activities of the SNP, the expert says.
“The issue of Scottish separatism is on the agenda again.
And this, of course, is key.
After the local elections, it will be difficult for London to prevent the nationalists from holding a second referendum on secession, ”says Tevda-Burmuli.
The political scientist recalled that a significant part of the Scottish society does not agree with the anti-European outcome of Brexit.
In this regard, Edinburgh does not consider the 2014 plebiscite unsuccessful for SNPs relevant.
Supporter of Scottish independence
Reuters
© Russell Cheyne
“Johnson expects to be ahead of the curve, although it is difficult to give a concrete forecast.
In Great Britain, the prospect of state reorganization according to the ideas of "autonomists" - supporters of expanding the rights of regions, has long been discussed.
This is what is called “devolution”, the transfer of new powers to the regions from the central authorities, ”says Tevda-Burmuli.
According to the expert, the current problems of London in relations with the regions are dictated primarily by the consequences of Brexit.
So, in addition to Scottish separatism, the agenda of the Johnson government is the situation with ensuring the transparency of the border between Northern Ireland and the independent Ireland that is part of the EU.
The consequence of these problems, according to experts, was the success of the radical Sinn Fein party in the elections in Northern Ireland in February last year, which received a record number of parliamentary seats - 37. This result allowed the supporters of unification with Ireland to become the second most influential parliamentary force.
Recall that officially Northern Ireland remained the EU customs zone.
This status is recorded in the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol.
The document was signed in 2020 as part of a general deal between the UK and Brussels.
Despite this, in early April, the British government unilaterally changed the terms of the protocol, extending the grace period for the supply of some food products to Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom.
This scheme will work until October 1.
Lack of clarity in the regulation of the customs status of Northern Ireland may provoke the development of the situation "according to an unpredictable scenario for London," said Kira Godovanyuk, senior researcher at the Center for British Studies at the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences.
“The big question is how the Northern Ireland Protocol will be implemented in practice.
At the moment, there are no administrative or infrastructural solutions for its implementation.
At the same time, nationalist sentiments in Northern Ireland are still strong.
The situation can get out of control at any time, "Godovanyuk explained in an interview with RT.
According to the expert, in recent years, the United Kingdom has seen an increase in the popularity of separatist sentiments.
To combat them politically, as Godovanyuk suggests, London will most likely have to grant the autonomies new administrative powers and financial privileges.
“Apparently, in negotiations with the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Johnson will try to come to an agreement with them, suggest a plan for resolving the problems in order to curb separatist tendencies.
For Johnson, the political unification of the regions is one of the main domestic political tasks today, ”concluded Godovanyuk.