(Picture of the heads of the leading parties from Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. From Left to right: Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald, Leader of Plaid Cymru Rhun ap Iorwerth, and Leader of the Scottish National Party John Swinney. Photo Courtesy of Sinn Fein)
By Graham Grady
According to the BBC, on September 14, 2026, the first ministers of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland declared their intention to exit the United Kingdom.
The same BBC article says Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, referred to the current UK Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, as “[the] last prime minister of the United Kingdom”, making the immediacy of these plans abundantly clear.
This could mark the culmination of centuries of tension between the English government and indigenous Welsh, Scottish, and Irish people seeking to retain (and later regain) their independence.
Eámonn McAteer, a man born in Northern Ireland, now living in North Carolina, who is in favor of Northern Ireland leaving the UK and self-described as “extremely pro-Irish reunification”, explained why he believes the people of these countries would want their independence. McAteer said: “For a long time, there have been growing numbers of people in the North of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales who have felt that the British government has been unable or unwilling to address the needs of their communities, and the decision to remove the UK from the European Union, against the wishes of the majority of people in the North of Ireland and Scotland, has caused considerable challenges.”
McAteer also said: “Since the late 1990’s, the North of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have had their own regional parliaments that legislate on many devolved issues, e.g., education, health care, transport, etc. I think each of these regions have shown they are capable of governing themselves pretty well.”
Marti Maguire, an associate professor of communications at William Peace University, discusses her skepticism about the viability of a UK break-up, despite supporting Irish unification. Maguire said: “I think of it politically and historically, the two parts of Ireland should be one country…but economically, there are benefits to being a larger country… if they become independent, they are going to lose some of the economy’s scale.”
Alongside these interviews, an informal survey showed that, among the Peace students who responded, they generally had neutral to positive views on the news.
Of the 19 students who responded to the survey, 15 of them (78.9% of respondents) said they had not previously learned of this news.
When asked how they felt about the prospect of a UK break-up, 47.4% said their opinion was neutral, 31.6% responded positively to these nations’ independence from Britain, and 21.1% responded negatively.
When asked how likely the plan to leave the UK was to succeed, 42.1% were unsure, 31.6% thought it would fail, and 26.3% believed it would succeed.
The most prevalent opinion among Peace’s student body (based on this non-comprehensive survey) appears to be one of unawareness.
Most respondents had not heard of this news before taking the survey, and nearly half had very little opinion on this politically charged event.
Perhaps the best encapsulation of this sentiment came from Matthew Palermo, a third-year Simulation & Game Design student, who wrote: “Is this a good or bad thing?”
This is far from an overwhelming consensus; in the months and years ahead, people around the world, with different viewpoints, will watch with bated breath to see whether this spells the end of the United Kingdom.