Referendum First?
Independence First has released a new statement which we're happy to to promote. My concern is that this is a tactical blunder and that the Unionist propaganda needs to be effectively countered and fought before a referendum is raised. I'm happy to be proved wrong.
SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT IS UNITED AROUND REFERENDUM DEMAND
"When the straight question is asked most polls show that the majority of Scots support Scottish independence, in other words the normal powers that almost every other country enjoys. A massive 86% of Scots think of themselves as Scottish rather than British. Polls also show a large amount of Scots want significantly more powers for our devolved parliament which can only be guaranteed with independence.
Return to direct rule from London is not a possibility and therefore support for independence has soared. This trend was the main reason behind the formation of the non party-political referendum campaign, Independence First which held a major march through the city on 30th September last year.
The fact that Scottish politics is now equally divided between Westminster elections and the Scottish elections has focused the media more on Scotland, despite the papers remaining largely unionist-orientated and hostile to the arguments for independence. (That not one of the major newspapers reflects majority public opinion on this issue is a cause for concern in our supposedly democratic society.) Nonetheless, this increased focus on Scottish politics has undoubtedly helped the Scottish-based parties, and these Scottish-based parties all favour independence. Even at the last election, while the SNP's vote fell sharply, the overall level of independence support and the number of independence supporting Members of the Scottish Parliament actually increased.
The smaller parties tend to be marginalised in UK-wide opinion polls and, even in Scottish polls, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3% it is pretty much impossible to determine exactly what the vote for the Greens or the SSP is likely to be.
What we do know is that these parties tend to poll higher than their opinion poll results, and we also know that the support for the SNP is much higher than ever before. The new parties, like the right-of-centre Scottish Enterprise Party, or the anti-EU Free Scotland Party, or Tommy Sheridan's Solidarity party, may well pick up further votes for independence as well. The possibility is there then for a pro-independence coalition which could project Scotland to independence.
Beyond independence, Independence First has no policies whatsoever: we believe any decisions on the EU or the monarchy or anything else must be made by our national parliament after independence. This non-political position means we are flexible enough to include every single political group and individual who supports independence for Scotland.
Our ultimate task is a big one: it is to encourage a massive groundswell of people on the scale of Scotland United to demand a referendum as a matter of urgency. We have calculated that around a million Scots voters need to vote for independence in both the first and second ballots to win an election. Current opinion polls show over half the people of Scotland already support independence and a further substantial chunk is undecided.
We recently ran an e-petition through the Scottish Parliament with over 1,300 signatures attached. Unfortunately, the Scottish Parliament's public petitions committee decided that there was no need to ask the people of Scotland their views on independence because they already have the opportunity to vote in elections.
In actual fact, people vote for political parties for a variety of different reasons. Independence is supported by individuals on the left and right of politics and some of those people support Labour, Tories, and Lib Dems as well as the parties based in Scotland.
The only way to get a clear idea of the Scottish public's desires on independence is to ask them directly. This executive isn't asking because it doesn't think it will like the answer.
Independence First believes one million votes are well within the independence movement's grasp. We also believe that once the Scottish people realise just how close independence potentially is then they will vote for it en masse this year."
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