Don’t be fooled by the boring bank manager persona… the SNP leader sees himself as the leader of the new ‘Celtic Arc’ dedicated to the destruction of the United Kingdom
12:06, 27 Apr 2026Updated 18:20, 27 Apr 2026
A ‘megaborder poll’ could take place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2030
One of Scotland’s most well-connected journalists has written about John Swinney‘s burning desire to “lead a pan-Celtic independence drive”.
The SNP leader is openly talking about how he will work with Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland and Plaid Cymru in Wales to bring about the end of the United Kingdom. This is despite the fact that polls show a majority of people in all three home nations want to remain in the UK.
Writing in the Times, Iain Macwhirter, who maintains excellent contacts in Scottish nationalist circles, said: “Don’t be fooled by ‘honest’ John’s downbeat demeanour. He remains a dedicated nationalist who hopes to be the moral leader of this new pan-Celtic independence movement.”
Former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson added: “He tries to portray himself as a sort of everyman-cum-bank manager, but it doesn’t take long for the mask to slip.”
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Macwhirter says Sinn Fein – regarded for years as beyond the pale due to their historic links to the IRA – are “jubilant” at their new relationship with Swiney’s SNP and the resurgent Welsh separatists. He says the three nationalist parties trying to engineer the break-up of Britain have been the termed “Celtic Arc”.
And although the SNP may not get a majority at Holyrood, a new deal with the Scottish Greens would see the two Scexiteer allies “campaigning with Plaid and Sinn Fein for a megaborder poll on independence for the Celtic periphery”.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald with SNP leader and Scottish First Minister John Swinney in Dublin in November(Image: X/@MaryLouMcDonald)
This could take place in 2030. Sinn Fein is already working towards a poll on Irish reunification by that date, on the basis that if Reform UK wins the 2029 general election then new prime minister Nigel Farage would not stand in their way.
Macwhirter writes: “The UK party is led by an English nationalist, Nigel Farage, who is not a supporter of independence but has always tended to regard Scotland as a burden on English taxpayers.”
In addition, with the English and Welsh Greens under Zack Polanski in second place in some polls, the make-up of Westminster by 2030 could be radically different than anything seen before. Macwhirter concludes: “The Westminster bubble, obsessed with trivia, may not realise it yet, but the Union could be living on borrowed time.”
First Minister John Swinney greets Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth ahead of a meeting at Bute House in Edinburgh.
Speaking last week, Sinn Fein vice president and Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister Michelle O’Neill was asked if she had “given up” on a border poll by the end of the decade. She replied: “No. I don’t give up on that. We have said that it should be 2030.
“We’re going to fight two by-elections in the 26 counties over the course of the next number of months. We’re going to fight an Assembly election next year, we’re going to have a Westminster election, a Dail election. So, yes, I think it’s still very conceivable we will have our unity referendum for 2030.”
Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has taken part in a Sinn Fein event this month to discuss how to reunify Ireland without triggering a loyalist backlash and has spoken of his “admiration” for the Republic of Ireland. However, he has said that Plaid wouldn’t push for a Welsh referendum until a second term in power in Cardiff.
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