Voices for Scotland hoping to take over from Yes Scotland in indyref2 campaign

Yes Scotland was launched in May 2012 and ran until the day of the September 2014 vote.

Over that period, the non-party organisation – which received substantial funding from the SNP, Euromillions winners Chris and Colin Weir and others – helped shift support for independence from 33% to 45%.

Led by chief executive Blair Jenkins and backed by the Greens, Scottish Socialist Party and others, the limited company was dissolved after the polls closed. But the legal entity behind it is still owned by the SNP’s solicitor to prevent its usage by other groups and could be brought back into usage if desired.

However, this newspaper understands that there are currently no plans to resuscitate the brand, despite Nicola Sturgeon’s Programme for Government confirmation that her administration will unveil proposals for a fresh constitutional question within months.

That’s after a summer of positive polls for independence supporters, with support for change consistently outstripping that for the status quo at more than 50%.

Before the end of this parliament, the SNP leader has committed to publishing a draft bill which will set out “the proposed terms and timing of an independence referendum, as well as the proposed question that people will be asked in that referendum”.

According to Sunday National sources, the ballot is unlikely to happen before autumn next year to allow for the passage of relevant legislation and other necessary processes. This includes setting the question with the elections watchdog and appointing the official campaigns, which were Yes Scotland and Better Together last time around.

Those bodies were able to spend more than other, unofficial drives and benefited from greater visibility. For Yes Scotland, that included winning support from high-profile figures including actor Martin Compston and musician Amy Macdonald.

But this newspaper was told Yes Scotland is unlikely to be “revived” in 2021 because “it isn’t a rematch, it’s not about reconsidering that 2014 vote – everything has changed,” one independence figure said. “We have a probable hard Brexit, we have the pandemic. This needs to be a different referendum.”

Audrey Birt, chair of Voices for Scotland (VfS), believes her organisation is “best placed” to carry on the work of Yes Scotland.

The campaigning arm of the Elaine C Smith-helmed Scottish Independence Convention, VfS launched just last year and is funded by donations from £5 per month.

The civic organisation includes Kevin Pringle, the SNP’s former strategic communications chief, amongst its board members. Earlier this year he called for “a new Yes Scotland organisation to take some of the strain and daily focus away from the Scottish Government”.

Birt said a decision on seeking to become the designated Yes team in 2021 has yet to take place. However, she believes VfS is “best placed to take forward that non-party political position”. She said: “I think we are in a natural position to do that. We have got a lot of skill.

“Our team are natural communicators. We are flexible and creative.

“There are a wide range of groups, and there are challenges.

“Things have changed since the Brexit vote, they’ve changed since the pandemic and people have seen what Scotland could be capable of. We are a grown-up democracy.

“There’s so much we could do differently. I’m excited that maybe next year we get the chance to have these discussions with people who have seen the results of the Union and have seen how they stand within that politics.”

Progress Scotland, the research company formed by Angus Robertson, the SNP’s campaign director, is currently embarking on new “large-scale polling” to “understand where voters are”.

Robertson says that should inform campaigning, but Progress Scotland will not seek to carry on Yes Scotland’s work itself. “Most of the different parts of the Yes campaign are still there and have been campaigning since 2014,” he said. “That puts the Yes side at a head start. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel – we know what worked, we know where we came up short.

“It’s about understanding who is looking to come to us and what they need more assurance and reassurance about and Progress Scotland will be contributing to that.”

The comments come on the day that the campaign group New Scots for Yes (NS4Y) is launched. Made up of a coalition of EU Citizens for an Independent Scotland, English Scots for Yes and Germans for Scottish Independence, it will focus on those “who have made Scotland their home and those living abroad who are connected to Scotland”.

According to the 2011 census, New Scots make up nearly 13% of Scotland’s population and under the Scottish Elections Act 2020, the vast majority can now vote.

Next year’s Holyrood election will be the first opportunity for those newly given the vote to cast their ballots, with EU citizens still be able to participate, despite Brexit.

The first NS4Y campaign initiative is expected on September 18, the sixth anniversary of the 2014 referendum.

Ellen Höfer, of EU Citizens for an Independent Scotland, said: “New Scots are an essential part of the diversity which makes Scotland such a welcoming, interesting and democratic nation. The recent changes in law have made Scotland’s electoral franchise one of the most inclusive in the world.

“The diverse electorate was a big leap forward and Scotland has overcome the first hurdle – no taxation without representation. Now, together, we face the next hurdle – no representation without participation.”