Indy Day of Action plans come together as families face UK benefit cut misery
The Yes movement is preparing for the biggest campaigning effort to boost support for independence in more than a year just as Westminster is about to impose the most severe cut to families' welfare benefit since the second world war.
The Believe in Scotland Day of Action will take place as soon as the Covid pandemic is at a stage where it is safe to do so.
Yes supporters are being asked to organise the events they think will help to persuade people that independence offers the best hope for Scotland’s future. There will be street stalls, coffee mornings, open days at local Yes hubs, a mass leaflet drop and a lot more.
It’s being organised with the support of the National Yes Network. The National is media partner and will be printing a special edition containing a pull-out featuring material published as part of Believe in Scotland’s recent Open Minds series in the newspaper.
The Believe in Scotland Day of Action is coming together just as the full devastating impact of Westminster’s decision to end a £20 a week uplift in universal credit is laid bare.
The event is coming together just as the full devastating impact of Westminster’s decision to end a £20 a week uplift in universal credit is laid bare. That will mean a cut of £1040 a year for hard pressed families.
Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the effects of such a major reduction on people with children has identified Glasgow Central as the hardest hit area, with 63% of families there losing £1040 a year.
Glasgow South West and Glasgow North East are the next worst hit areas, with 55% and 54% respectively of people with children under 18 receiving less universal credit from October 6.
In many areas of Scotland almost half the families with children will have less money coming in. These include Dundee West, where 49% of families will lose out; Kirkaldy & Cowdenbeath (44%); Aberdeen North (42%) and North Ayrshire & Arran (43%).
Altogether more than a quarter of families with children will be hit in 52 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster constituencies. An average 19% of all working-age families in Scotland (with or without children) will experience this cut to their income, which amounts to around 452,000 families.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said yesterday that the party has a “responsibility” to Scottish voters to deliver a second independence referendum in the current Holyrood parliament – and insisted it would do so.
Let the Yes movement come together and let’s make sure we have that route to ensuring Scotland becoming an independent country
Mr Blackford was speaking in Glasgow during a day of protest at the universal credit cut. He said: “We can’t trust Westminster to make sure our economy can recover.’
And he added: “My message to everyone, particularly in the independence movement, is that independence referendum will happen ... Let the Yes movement come together and let’s make sure we have that route to ensuring Scotland becoming an independent country.”
Believe in Scotland’s Day of Action offers the Yes movement a chance to do just that. A date for the event will be announced in the coming days.