Scottish Independence Convention: The start of a new chapter focusing on strategy, policy and movement-building

Convener Elaine C Smith said the Scottish Independence Convention (SIC) was being held to begin writing the new “chapter in our country’s story of our progression to self-determination and independence.”

The conference, held at Glasgow’s Radisson Blu hotel, heard speakers from across the movement talk on policy, strategy and movement-building – three key areas the campaign identified as key to winning Scottish independence.

The National published a special digital edition for online subscribers giving detailed coverage of the event, including an interview with attendees Jean and Gordon King, a couple from the Carse of Gowrie near Perth.

The Kings, activists for independence since the 2014 campaign, said the report presented to the SIC by Dr Craig Dalzell, showing a drop in support for independence among SNP members, was proof the party needed to change how it communicated with members.

They added that it was important to “offer more support to the whole independence movement”.

Elsewhere, delegates – each of whom was given a complementary edition of Saturday’s National – were warned that if indyref2 was lost there would not be another opportunity to make the case for independence for a long time.

Stewart Kilpatrick, head of digital for Yes Scotland during the 2014 indyref campaign, said: “If we lose next time, I don’t think there will be a third chance in the lifetime of the people in this room. We will be the generation who got within touching distance and then threw the prize away, and I for one do not want that.”

Kilpatrick said the reason the first vote was lost was simple: not enough people had believed in the necessity of voting Yes.

He said: “We didn’t lose because of the BBC, we didn’t lose because of MI5 and we didn’t lose because of stuffed ballot boxes. We lost purely and simply because we did not convince enough of the people that we needed to reach to vote Yes.”

Being ready to counter arguments and dispel myths about independence was the priority for the next referendum, he said, the campaign for which would have only one certainty: it would not be as easy as last time.

As well as politicians Angela Constance MSP, the minister for communities, social security and equalities, and Scottish Green Party co-conveners Maggie Chapman and Patrick Harvie, delegates heard from a leading SNP figure that he backed an independent Scotland having its own currency and Central Bank.

Westminster frontbencher Tommy Sheppard MP, the SNP’s constitutional affairs spokesman, told the SIC a key advantage of the policy was that it did not rely on consent from the UK Government. In 2014, then Chancellor George Osborne simply refused to play ball on a currency union with an independent Scotland, no doubt a factor in the decision by many of what Sheppard calls the “i-curious” to vote No in indyref1.

To sustained applause, Sheppard said: “The time has come to say that if we want our own government which is capable of investing in our economy and making sure we develop and modernise our industry, then that government will need to have a Central Bank behind it, under its own control, and we are going to have to have our own currency.”

A separate Scottish pound has been backed by the pro-indy Scottish Greens since 2014. Later in the day, the Greens’ Sarah Beattie-Smith said the movement could learn from the principle of “building back better”, where those working in international development seek to improve on infrastructure and community cohesion following a natural disaster.

“I don’t know about you, but it certainly felt like a disaster on the evening of September 19, 2014 when I was sobbing into my Hobnobs,” said Beattie-Smith, who urged the Scottish Government to use powers it had to reform Council Tax, social security and education.

National columnist and trade union activist Cat Boyd, who helped launch the Radical Independence Campaign from the very same room five years ago, gave a passionate speech in which she warned the movement must not believe Scotland is immune from the tide of “shut-the-borders” populism currently sweeping through much of the world’s developed countries.

Voters were out to punish the establishment, she said, and the independence movement, formed “under the banner of protest and rebellion”, must remain true to these roots.

It was the responsibility of everyone in the room, she said, to “to go out and raise the expectations of the people of Scotland.”

Perhaps it is the expectations of the women of Scotland that need raised most pressingly. Representatives in the audience from grassroots feminist movement Women For Independence, who campaigned tirelessly in the run-up to indyref1, told the SIC it had not been unusual for the women on the doorstep to say the decision to vote Yes or No was not theirs to take but that of their husband or son.

This was coupled with the finding that support for independence among women over 55 has decreased.

WFI’s Lesley Orr said that gender justice must be taken seriously, from righting historical structural inequalities, to the “mundane violations of everyday sexism”, to the fact that 80 per cent of UK Government savings on social security were coming directly from women’s pockets.

There were many other thought-provoking contributions from the hundreds gathered, including a much-welcomed appearance from the youngest MP since 1667, Mhairi Black. Unionist troll Brian Spanner appeared to be tweeting from the audience but try as we might, The National failed to track him down.

However, his presence failed to sour the day’s mood, which brimmed with warmth, good humour and a feeling of dynamism, co-operation and mutual support, all of which will be required ahead.

As Angela Constance said: “It’s easy to enjoy the highs together, but let’s ensure we care for and support each other throughout our journey.”