The Scottish National Party have launched a new “Yes” campaign in a bid to “empower” the case for independence.
That is despite experts saying it was facing a £1.5 billion black hole in Scotland’s budget. Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the issue came from “pitifully slow growth,” coupled with “uncosted public sector pay deals and council tax freezes and industrial-scale SNP waste”
However, the SNP plans to launch new independence campaign resources on the Yes Scotland website, reports GB News. This will, it says, fight against “laughable scaremongering”.
The campaign will also feature new leaflets and a question and answer section about independence. The “Yes” campaign was launched back in 2014.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, a founder of a grassroots campaign, this week called for the Yes movement to reach out beyong social media. He launched Believe in Scotland, a coalition of 142 local and national Yes groups managed by one steering group.
His appeal said: “We have to realise that there is no movement, no momentum if most members of the movement are just stuck on social media talking to themselves.
“Most of the people and even organisations that consider themselves part of the movement never talk to anyone outside of the movement. Yet they maintain a high profile within the movement – but anonymity without.
“The independence movement is way too connected to and too dependent upon political parties to make the running.
“Only the grassroots can move the polls but the grassroots are forever waiting for the politicians to drive things – politicians don’t make waves, they ride them.”
The group recently raised more than £88,000 in a month of fund-raising. The Yes campaign site says it plans to “rebut scaremongering theories.”
A statement reads: “Today, the party is launching many new independence campaign resources on the Yes Scotland website.
“These are the tools which will empower us all to make the case for independence, and rebut some of the ludicrous and laughable scaremongering theories opposition parties continue peddle.”
Believe in Scotland has plans to hold rallies in Glasgow and Edinburgh next month.
The Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) this week warned Scotland faced a £1.5 billion “black hole” in its budget. SNP Secretary of State for Finance Shona Robison said the country faced a “deeply challenging financial situation.”
She added: “The autumn statement was devastating for Scottish finances. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has acknowledged that it will lead to planned real-terms cuts in public service spending.
“Scotland is facing a 9.8% cut to our capital budget for infrastructure between this year and 2027-28. The £10.8 million additional health consequentials we received from the autumn statement for next year are enough to run NHS Scotland for just five hours, and UK Government funding for justice, housing and communities, net zero, energy, and environment are all being cut in real-terms.
“All this comes on top of more than a decade of UK Government under-investment that has left our public services with very little resilience.”
