Nightjar wrote
ARW wrote

eg Catalonia,

I'm all for democracy and a free vote.

I think the Spanish government made a serious error of judgment in not
allowing the referendum to go ahead without opposition.

Their problem is that when the referendum produces a large
majority who vote to leave, they can't just ignore that.

The evidence is that only about 40% of Catalans favour separation.

We've just seen how wrong the 'evidence' can be with referenda.

If the police had not deterred any but the most vehement activists from
voting, the referendum would probably have reflected that.

Easy to claim...

In any case, a referendum is not binding

But very politically difficult to ignore.

and, in the Spanish case, the constitution would prevent the government
from granting independence even if it didn't.

Irrelevant.

So hands up everyone that wants shut of the Welsh.

Only the Welsh could vote on that

That's not true either.

and they aren't likely to support it. OTOH, if Northern Ireland voted to
break away,

Unlikely.

it would solve the post-Brexit border problem.

And if they didnt, it wouldnt.