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The date of the Believe in Scotland mass Day of Action for Independence has been revealed as Saturday, September 18. More than 80 Yes groups from all over Scotland have already signed up to take part and ‘fire the starting gun on a major coordinated grassroots independence campaign ‘ that will run until indyref 2 takes place.

The day will see a host of events being staged throughout the country, from socially distanced street stalls and coffee mornings to foodbank drives, beach and park clean ups and Yes hub open days to more ambitious musical events. The Yes groups have also committed to deliver more than 150,000 leaflets through doors right across Scotland in the day - especially in key areas.

All will share the same aim - to convince voters that a Yes result will give us the chance to emerge from the pandemic as a stronger, more equal country with justice, fairness and diversity at the heart of a resurgent economy.

Believe in Scotland is organising the Day of Indy Action in collaboration with the National Yes Network and The Scottish Independence Foundation. Believe in Scotland is discussing with the National Yes Network the establishment of a support network and distribution network to make sure as many people as possible receive Day of Action and Believe in Scotland information.

It would be great if everyone could join in and help their local Yes group. The indie movement needs a shot in the arm

Believe in Scotland founder Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp revealed that 86 Yes groups had so far committed to taking part and he expected that number to grow to more than 100 before the big day. He urged the movement to get behind the initiative and said: “It would be great if everyone could join in and help their local Yes group.

‘Even hanging a saltire from a window, digging out an old Yes sign or just sharing the key messages we post on social media during the day allows everyone to take part.

“This won't just be a one-off day of action, rather it will fire the starting gun on a major coordinated grassroots independence campaign that will run until we win independence in indyref2 (probably in early 2023).

‘The Indy movement needs a shot in the arm; it needs a major boost. Too much internal wrangling among the supporters of pro-independence political parties online in combination with lockdowns has demotivated many Yes supporters and this will get the movement going again”.

He added: “There is obviously a risk that a circuit breaker lockdown will be required but if that's the case we have contingency plans to move everything online and then hit the streets again as soon as we can”.

The National newspaper is the media sponsor of the Day of Indy Action, which is being held on the seventh anniversary of the first independence referendum in 2014 and we will be partnering to create some very special content on the day.

Every Yes group that registers as a Believe in Scotland campaign partner to participate in the Day of Indy Action will receive a free campaign and fundraising pack worth between £125 and £250, depending on the size of the group. Organisers hope that the local groups will be able to sell items such as the free copies of the Scotland the Brief book included in the packs and raise as much as £20,000 for themselves.

Mr MacIntyre-Kemp hoped the event will galvanise supporters to recapture the energy of the movement, saying: “It’s time to stop complaining and start campaigning.”

The best message you can send is that the grassroots are up and running, firing on all cylinders and ready to win this time

He added: “Even if you are one of those in the movement who voice suspicions that the SNP don't really want to hold a referendum, you must realise that the best message you can send is that the grassroots are up and running, firing on all cylinders and ready to win this time.

Believe in Scotland was launched in January 2020. Since then we have grown to include more than 15,000 subscribers, pledgers and Stakeholder members. It was The National’s independence campaign of the year in 2020 and now has around 200,000 followers across  various Facebook pages and groups.

Local Yes groups can still join in by emailing Believe in Scotland or getting in touch via their representative to the  National Yes Network and individual can pledge their support for believe in Scotland here www.believeinscotland.org/pledge

Believe in Scotland, is calling on the grassroots Yes movement to join in a massive day of campaigning after lockdown ends.

Our crowdfunder is in its last week and the first £50,000 of donations were matched pound for pound by business donors so we hit our £50,000 target and business donor contributions took the total raised to £100,000. Since hitting that target we’ve received two more business donations, each pledging to match an extra £5,000 in donations. So the next £10,000 we receive is already effectively doubled and we will spend it on our indy day of action.

We have asked the National Yes Network to help co-ordinate a pan-Scotland action day featuring street stalls, coffee mornings, open days at local Yes hubs and a mass leaflet drop.  The National newspaper will be the media partner for the day of action and will print a special edition with a pull out in the paper containing all 24 articles published in its recent Open Minds series on independence, written by Believe in Scotland.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, founder of Believe in Scotland, said: “We need to have a referendum during this term of the Scottish Parliament and we need to start planning now to regain the momentum and raise Yes support before the referendum is called.

Lockdown means we can’t yet name a date but we can start planning - within a few weeks of lockdown ending we want to hit the streets and make up for lost time. Dozens of Yes groups have already expressed support for the idea, but we want to get more than 100 onboard and so we will seek agreement from the National Yes Network’s committee to act as our partners in making this huge push work.

The National is on board and that gives us great content to distribute as well as the campaign materials every local Yes group will receive from the Believe in Scotland fundraiser. Including all our 24 Open Minds articles in a special edition supplement that activists can hand out will help persuade a lot of people to consider moving to support for independence.

Provisional goals for the day

We want to hear ideas from activists and Yes groups with their ideas to make this initiative as effective as possible.

Suggestions ideas so far include:

1.    125 participating local Yes groups

2.    100 street stalls at open days at Yes hubs and offices

3.    25 coffee mornings

4.    100 billboards throughout Scotland

5.    100,000 leaflets door dropped (supplied by BiS)

6.    30,000 Open Minds supplements distributed via the National and street work

7.    50,000 meaningful conversations with undecided voters

8.    A coordinated social media campaign, with zoom training sessions for activists by BiS

9.    A major youth vote activation initiative

10.  100,000 views of related online content 

A sixty percentage Yes vote is achievable - with the right economic approach.

However, coronavirus changed everything; every rule of conservative economics has been shattered and the world is waking up to the need to truly build back better, to intertwine resilience, health, wellbeing and environmental sustainability into our socio-political approach.

The old mantras of the left and right only address half of the wellbeing equation each and as such, they are defunct, they represent the outdated political/tribal dividing lines of the last century.

Understanding that we can't consume our way back to recovery, that the world economy has collapsed twice in just over a decade and, with climate change the single largest threat to prosperity and wellbeing starting to have a greater impact by the day, we desperately need to rethink economics.

Fortunately that’s what the people of Scotland want. They don’t want to go back to pre-covid normal, because normal wasn't working. It was unjust, environmentally unsustainable, amplified inequality that impoverished communities and disadvantaged the small businesses that are the true backbone of our economy and the health crises has given people an opportunity to adjust their values.

Not only that, our poll - Panelbase for Believe in Scotland April 2021 - found that if you offer independence in parallel with a wellbeing approach to economics then 59% of the Scottish population would vote for Scottish independence. The same poll asked the standard Yes/No question without the wellbeing caveat and found 51% Yes 49% No, so it's plain to see that a wellbeing approach would, if properly communicated would add 8% to Yes but offers the opportunity grow independence support above 60%.

A poll by Progress Scotland in 2020 found that 75% of Scottish voters would consider voting for independence if it was offered in conjunction with the right economic approach - wellbeing economics is that approach.

A poll carried out by Panelbase for the think tank Scotianomics last year (full report here) found that supporters of every single political party in Scotland overwhelmingly supported a wellbeing approach to economics. Not only did it find SNP and Labour voters wholeheartedly supporting the key elements of a wellbeing approach (which might have been expected), Conservative voters came out top on some of the key wellbeing value measures.

Crucially it also explains why so many people would switch to independence; the popularity of a wellbeing economic approach is truly cross-party and also appeals most to older voters who are the most likely to vote against independence. It's not a tactical approach though, the reason it appeals to so many is that it is the right thing to do. We must cast off conservative (austerity) thinking and understand that left and right are outdated concepts, that society and the economy are two sides of the same coin - we cannot have a thriving society without a thriving economy and we cannot have a thriving economy without a thriving society. Traditional economic thinking sets left and right ideas, the two halves of the solution, against one another and that creates a boom and bust cycle for both society and the economy that we must break.

Want to know more about the Wellbeing approach?  Within days we will publish our outline Manifesto for Wellbeing and you can see it fort on our 22,000 strong Facebook Group.

Now here is the data bit!

Overall, there is a super majority level of acceptance of the need to move to a wellbeing approach. Lets look at one of the 17 value statements polled in October 2020 as an example:

Although it has wide ranging popularity across all age groups wellbeing economics appeals most to the older generations (often our most vulnerable) and those are the ones who need a safety net to allow them to vote with their hearts and switch to supporting Scottish independence.

There is significant majority support for a wellbeing approach across supporters of all parties and that includes Conservative voters, who are the least likely political demographic to support independence. 67% of Conservative voters agreeing with this key wellbeing statement (one of 17 wellbeing value statements in the survey) is a supermajority with 21% undecided and only 12% of Conservative voters disagreeing.

Conclusion 

The Scottish Government cannot enter into a new campaign without a new economic approach, one that is based both on the values of the nation and the post-covid economic reality.

Independence is within reach - we simply need to do the right thing by the people of Scotland and offer them a socioeconomic vision that they can be inspired by, one that will lead to greater prosperity, equality and environmental sustainability.

Business backers of Scottish independence have contributed £50,000 in matching donations to an indyref2 fundraiser run by Believe in Scotland.

Believe in Scotland is the largest and most active independence campaigning organisation and incorporates the business and economic wellbeing campaign group Business for Scotland. The organisation was awarded Independence Campaign of the Year (2020) by The National newspaper and the Scottish Independence Foundation after launching in January 2020.

The pro-independence business donors from Business for Scotland have agreed to match the first £50,000 raised from the independence supporting public - pound for pound. So if the initiative raises £25,000 it pulls down an additional £25,000 to raise £50,000 in total and if it generates £50,000 the sum raised will total £100,000 to support local Yes Groups as they get ready for indyref2.

The organisation has committed that 100% of the money raised will go on active campaigning as all organisational costs are met already through membership fees.

Listing some of its goals for the money raised, Believe in Scotland promised the fundraiser would deliver amongst other initiatives:

• A free fundraising and campaigning pack for up to 120 participating local Yes groups.
• More billboards across Scotland to counter unionist misinformation and scaremongering.
• A million leaflets delivered to Scottish households within a year of the end of lockdown.
• Social media and local adverts targeting key messages needed to raise Yes support.

The fundraising push was launched on Tuesday, May 11 2021 and will run till the end of May.

After just two days, which represents 10% of the fundraising campaign's run, it had already hit 34% of its fundraising total with 210 donors contributing £16,865.00 which will be doubled by the business backers to take the funds raised to £33,730.00 so far.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, founder of Believe in Scotland, said:
“Last week Scotland’s people elected a Yes majority to Holyrood – Scotland’s people just demanded a second independence referendum and they will get one.

"We expect the earliest practical date for a referendum will be Autumn 2022 and the latest possible date will be Autumn 2023. We are very pleased and humbled by how many people are willing to help Believe in Scotland get ready for indyref2, to help us get ready to win this time and unlock Scotland’s potential to be a wealthier, fairer, healthier and greener nation than we can be stuck in the outdated dysfunctional United Kingdom.

This article will explain the timeframe within which the next independence referendum will take place and also explain why we can be so confident in our prediction.

In the last few days both the SNP and the Scottish Greens have committed to holding a referendum in the term of the next parliament. That is important as those parties are the ones who are guaranteed to have representation in the next Holyrood Parliament and Alba, which may join them with a handful of MSPs (according to our latest Panelbase poll), would back that. 

To be clear the SNP is going to win the election, the only question is by how much and will it have a single-party majority or not? The polls also indicate there will be a significant Yes majority and so the referendum bills that still need to be passed will pass with ease.

However, the commitment states within the term of the next parliament and as a parliamentary term is five years long, some people seem to think that means we have to wait five years. That is a complete and utter  misunderstanding of the situation. 

First let’s bust a massive myth; the polls currently sit at roughly 50/50 and despite what people say on Facebook, a win for the Yes side is not inevitable. The polls were better, hitting a high of 58% in November and December 2020, but the civil war between the two political giants of the independence movement destroyed the movement’s unity, took the focus off campaigning and put it on infighting, thus independence support has dropped.

Secondly, not everyone who supports independence in the polls is 100% dedicated to it. The Yes side can rely on about 40% but it needs to win the rest of its votes. The No side can rely on about 37% and so there is 23% undecided or who could be fairly easily persuaded to switch sides. Make no mistake, indyref2 will not be a procession it will be a political battle royal and handing any advantage to the opposition would be political suicide. So the Scottish Government and its allies in the next parliament must pick the time, the date, who gets to vote and be ready to salt the battlefield. On top of that, it needs a new economic approach that matches the new post-Covid political reality - and we are not there yet.

OK - let’s look at when the referendum can take place and when it should take place.

What about 2021?

The Holyrood election will be on May 6th this year and at the moment we are still experiencing movement restrictions and some form of lockdown. Even though the vaccination programme is going well it may be months yet till it reaches herd immunity levels and, on top of that, there is still the significant possibility that new strains will emerge, that will render the vaccines ineffective and we will be back in lockdown - Lets hope this doesn't happen but it is a risk. It is only after we are fully clear of the health crisis that we can be sure we can hold a referendum campaign that is not going to have to be halted by another health crisis.

Add to that the fact that the key advantage of the Yes side is the tens of thousands of people who are willing to work for independence, to deliver leaflets, to canvas, to attend rallies and marches. The unionist side has none of that and holding a referendum campaign when the Yes side may not be able to deploy its main tactical advantage would be a quick way to lose.

We will also, possibly, see the UK Government attempt to stop the Scottish Parliament from holding a referendum, especially if the lack of an SNP single-party majority failed to replicate the same conditions after the 2011 SNP majority led to indyref1. We may have a long drawn out court battle to win before the referendum can be held.

There is also a small thing called the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, which will take place between Friday, July 23 2021 and Sunday, August 8 2021. If indyref2 were announced Autumn 2021, say September or October, then every British medalist will be on every electronic billboard in Scotland with a union flag, just as they did with the Prince Philip memorial billboards last week (which will repeat this Saturday). Every Scottish athlete will be dragged in front of the TV cameras with a Union flag draped around their shoulders and asked if the British athletes federation is paying for their travel, coaches, food and board, they will be asked to say thanks while the PR guys for the British Olympic team stare daggers at them from behind the cameraman. 

Look it ain't going to be 2021 - OK?

So we get through winter and the economy is recovering as best it can and we have a new economic approach - based on the emerging Wellbeing approach to economics - if we want to win that is. We have got past the lockdown, the health crisis has passed and we can look at May 2022 as the first genuine opportunity; the date could be announced before Christmas to give us a six month run in. However it's worth pointing out that May 4th will host the Scottish council elections but late May would be a possibility.  This does mean that Autumn 2022 is more likely, unless it is not a Section 30 referendum, in which case holding it on the same day as the local council elections would mean any attempt to boycott it would wipe out all the unionist parties in the councils. 

Now have the earliest date, what is the latest possible date? IT’S NOT five years. The next UK general election will be held on Thursday, May 2nd 2024. So that rules out 2024 and it must be before then. If the SNP doesn’t hold a referendum before then it will disintegrate; other Yes parties will stand constituency candidates with the general election being the first-past-the-post constituency only vote, the SNP would almost certainly lose almost half its MPs.

Even if you are one of those people that thinks the First Minister is only interested in her own career, then you still have to admit she needs to go before the GE or her career is over. So, the latest possible date for a referendum is September or October 2023. Having won the referendum, the SNP will still field candidates in the GE as we will still be in the UK for a transition period (as happened with the European Elections). If we win then the SNP will likely sweep every seat in Scotland and not one unionist candidate will survive the cull. If the Yes side loses, well that would take an unmitigated disaster/political stupidity (like going too soon or not replacing the Sustainable Growth Commission plan) then either the SNP or some other party will stand in the next general election on the ticket of declaring independence. If for some reason the UK Government manages to win in the courts and stop us from having a referendum, then the SNP will run on a UDI ticket in the 2024 GE.  

So we are looking at between May 2022 to October 2023 - 13 months or two and half years at most - before indyref2. The actual date will be chosen by the Scottish Parliament and given it will have a large pro-Yes majority it will be at a time and with the voter franchise that will best suit the chances of a Yes victory. The SNP is not kicking the can down the road, it is creating the flexibility to ensure victory before the next UK general election in 2024.

A new poll has been released today which makes for interesting reading about the future of the UK. The poll by Savanta ComRes for ITV’s Tonight programme surveyed voters between 18-22 February.

It shows the Union is fighting a battle on three fronts.  In Scotland, 71% believe we would fare better without being part of the UK - not sure what that means. We will have to watch the programme which commissioned the poll to get the full details.

The poll found independence support in Scotland at 53% thus re-establishing the Yes lead. However, as it was conducted  for a TV programme that still had to be filmed, the polling predates the more recent Survation poll which saw support for independence tied at 50/50.

We can’t tell anything from that other than different polling companies have found Yes support falling slightly during the internal arguments within the SNP. But the poll of polls for 2021 so far has independence at 54% and that surely is no cause for celebration for unionist campaigners.

In Wales the Savanta ComRes poll finds 39% of people are now in favour of independence. Consider that when the Yes campaign started ahead of the Scottish 2014 referendum Yes was at 27%. If it had started at 40% it’s almost a mathematical certainty that Scotland would now be independent.

A key issue for Welsh people is that they fear that once Scotland becomes independent they will be left isolated with the rump-UK and apparently that's an unappealing prospect.

Finally, 43% of people in Northern Ireland would vote for unification with the Republic of Ireland. With my long-term family connections to Ireland on both sides of the Irish question, a standout result for me was that 72% of Northern Irish people agree that the country is historically Irish. Pause for a second and then read that last sentence again. Let it sink in. Changed days indeed.

Taking an average of the three results - 53%, 39% and 43% -  the populations of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are sitting at 45% in favour of ending the UK.

In the next few weeks, we will see an end to the internal SNP battles. Polls will tell us whether the new list parties have even registered in the electoral consciousness. Once the Holyrood election campaigns get underway, a more unified Yes movement should signal a return to larger Yes leads in the polls.

We still have the two Holyrood enquiries into the Salmond affair to report but the mainstream media hysteria over the First Minister’s position seems to have died down and left the Scottish Conservative Party, in particular, look slightly childish.

Link to Tonight Programme Details

Believe in Scotland’s current nationwide billboard campaign highlighting the fact that the Westminster government pays the worst pension in the developed world has clearly upset unionist campaigners.

Last week we were contacted by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to inform us that they had received multiple complaints claiming that our statement was not true. Given that it is 100% accurate we were not particularly concerned.  

Our billboards, which feature four designs and have been running on 98 screens across Scotland, do seem to have provoked a concerted complaints campaign, which demonstrates just how two-faced leading unionists activists can be.

It was a disgraceful Better Together campaign tactic in 2014 to tell pensioners that their miserly low UK state pension was at threat from independence when in fact the risk of reduction is now far greater because we remained part of the UK.    

Let's be clear: the UK can afford better pensions and can afford to end pensioner poverty. That is clearly true because every other nation in the developed world is able to do just that. It is simply a fact that the UK government has a policy of keeping state pensions low so that people are forced to pay into private pensions, boosting the pensions fund sector and the City of London. However not everyone CAN afford to do that. The poorer sections of society – those who are disabled, sick and unable to work, who have been made redundant and have experienced unemployment – can’t pay into large private pensions and therefor have to make do with the worst state pension in the developed world (as a percentage of final earnings) just to boost the profits of the City of London.

An independent Scotland will need to raise pensions slowly as the economy starts to grow again after we cast off the economic straitjacket of London-based decision making.  However, the state pension is so bad even doubling it would not be enough to match the EU average.  

We are always willing to defend our claims to the hilt and here is a copy of the evidence we sent to the ASA to back our insistence that the UK government pays the worst state pension in the developed world. 

Our evidence to the ASA

STARTS>>

I can confirm that Business for Scotland Ltd (BfS) is the organisation that is running the Believe in Scotland campaign and that I am your point of contact. Please see my contact details in the footer of this email.

BfS is committed to the highest standards in its advertising statements and we completely believe our statements in the pensions advert are true and fair. We also suspect that all of our adverts will be reported to you, not because they are inaccurate but because the complaints will be politically motivated. We are, however, more than happy to work with you to clarify and even change any wordings and aims if you advise that they should be clarified etc.

The statement that the UK pays the lowest state pension in the developed world is based on data provided by the OECD which is essentially the world's largest think tank and one of the most respected sources of economic data.

You can find the comparative data here https://data.oecd.org/pension/net-pension-replacement-rates.htm and on that site you can run other relative comparisons.

Please also see the image below which is the key table used to support our claim.

The net replacement rate is defined as the individual net pension entitlement divided by net pre-retirement earnings, taking into account personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by workers and pensioners. It measures how effectively a pension system provides a retirement income to replace earnings, the main source of income before retirement. The aforementioned definition is from the OECD website. This is the best international comparator for pensions as it relates to final earnings and therefore, the comparative cost of living. This signifies the drop in wealth from earning the pension in each nation.

The countries listed include developing nations and also EU and OECD member nations. South Africa comes out worse than the UK but is considered to be a developing nation and not yet a fully developed country.

The OECD recognises members to be developed and South Africa isn't a full member.

Some points below:

·  The UN has recognised South Africa as a developing economy (p. 146).

·  South Africa is not a member of the OECD (instead, South Africa is an Associate in 6 OECD Bodies and Projects, and a Participant in 15).

·  South Africa receives official development assistance (ODA) from the OECD.

So, we have described the Developed world as defined by membership of The OECD.  Also the Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers: Noun : the industrialized and economically advanced countries of the world collectively – Also called: First World, global north.

The advert's goal is not to sell anything but rather to inform and educate and therefore on the advert we supply a link for more information where everything that I have stated above is explained. We believe that the claims made are reasonable conclusions to draw from the available data and defined in a way that is right and proper and, therefore, informative and educational rather than misleading in any way. We also believe that given the restrictions on words and readability that we have conveyed sufficient information on the adverts.

We are at your disposal should you wish any further clarifications and happy to tweak the adverts if you think they can be made clearer in any way. Please also acknowledge that the above information is provided to help you with your research into the complaints. However, as we do not yet know the wording or nature of the complaints the above does not constitute our official response to the complaints themselves.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp 

On behalf of Business for Scotland Ltd and the Believe in Scotland campaign.

<<ENDS

As you can see there is no doubt pensioner poverty in Scotland is caused deliberately by the UK government policy of paying the worst pension in the developed world in order to increase private pension fund profits in the City of London.

The ASA was not moved to agree with the complainers that the adverts should be removed nor that in this case - given the nature of the claims in the advert - that they had the power to do so.  Our adverts remain in prominent positions on main through roads and key routes leading to supermarkets (which are still open during lockdown). The Truth is still out there.

The “Yes Challenge” is set to take place over the next three months and aims to convert as many undecided voters as possible to independence.

The new initiative, a collaboration between Believe in Scotland (BiS) and The National, has been described as a potential “gamechanger” for the independence campaign.

BiS founder Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp said: “With 20 polls in a row showing a majority for Yes and support for independence as high as 58%, now is the time to build momentum and our ambitious grassroots campaign will do just that.

“May’s Holyrood election has the potential to cause a seismic change on the future of Scotland and we are going to be ready to harness that opportunity.”

The 12 week Yes Challenge aims to achieve:

• 5,000 people to sign the Yes Challenge pledge
• 2,000 undecided voters to participate in the Open Minds to Independence journey
• 1,000 confirmed new Yes voters after 12 weeks
• 200 “Yes from No” conversion testimonials to share via print and social media

The concept is simple to understand and easy to engage with; members of the Believe in Scotland community (12,900), members of local Yes groups and readers of The National will be asked to sign up to the Yes Challenge pledge at yeschallenge.scot and will be encouraged to sign up undecided voters amongst their friends, family members or work colleagues. Over the course of 12 weeks, BiS and The National will take up the challenge of sharing with those undecideds the tangible opportunities of independence through content that will answer their questions and allay their doubts.

Once an undecided voter signs up (no card details required) they will be sent a new series of 24 articles, written by Believe in Scotland, which will make the case for independence step by step. The articles will highlight the democratic deficit in the UK, dispel the myths of the Union, tell the truth about Brexit and share facts about the potential that independence could deliver for Scotland.

Additionally, they will also have access to all of The National’s usual news stories, columnists, fact-checks and features.

There will be a series of virtual events exclusively for undecided voters, offering a welcome and safe space in which they can ask questions of real experts who can address any fears and answer queries about the case for Yes.

MacIntyre-Kemp said: “We all have at least one friend whose heart says Yes but their head isn’t yet convinced, that’s who we want you to connect us with, someone that is open to the idea of independence but still on the fence. We will engage them, listen and answer their questions, then hopefully put their heads in touch with their hearts by sharing the evidence that shows why independence is the right path.

"We are aiming big and we need the help of all dedicated and true independence supporters to make this work.

We can’t win by talking amongst ourselves and this Yes Challenge is the single biggest independence campaigning initiative for years. We hope our Yes family will unite behind this major campaign and help us engage people outside of the Yes community."

Sign up to the Yes Challenge today – and help us convert undecided voters to independence.

Believe in Scotland’s virtual Burns Supper featured Scottish stars in a fantastic video production of "A man's a man", which topped 11,000  views in less than 24 hours.  Headlined by Brian Cox, the video also includes supermodel Eunice Olumide, Lesley Riddoch and Alistair Heather.

More than 550 independence supporters attended the BiS event and raised more than £4,000 for its independence campaign.

The event, rated by 91% of attendees as “excellent” or “very good”, was hosted by BiS founder Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp and featured talks, toasts, recitals and songs from a host of well-kent Scots.

McIntyre-Kemp, who hosted the event from his kitchen, said he was delighted with the success of the virtual Supper.“We didn’t let lockdown stop us celebrating the Bard and having a great night in. In is clearly the new out!

“We raised a fantastic amount of money for our billboard and Facebook advertising campaign being launched in February, this will be a major part of our bid to reach an increasingly independence-voting public and share our message of a better, fairer, greener, healthier and happier independent Scotland.

“But just as importantly, it was great to see so many independence supporters getting together and enjoying the event; some said even though it was only online that it was the best Burns Supper they had ever attended and 74% said it was better than or as good as a normal Burns Supper.”

The stellar line up of entertainers ranged from the best Burns and folk performers to TV and radio presenters, leading politicians and even a major TV and movie star. Guests enjoyed:

• Readings from Brian Cox, Lesley Riddoch, Kate Forbes MSP, Eunice Olumide, Alistair Heather, Billy Kay and Brandon Malone
• Musical performances from Iona Fyffe, and youth performers Rhianna Boyle and Eala McElhinney
• Toasts and talks by Mike Russell MSP and Philippa Whitford MP, Alistair Heather and Bill Nolan
• All hosted by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp

One of the highlights of the evening was A mans a man for a’ that, the Bard's thoughtful expression of the ideas of equality and fairness in society - which makes it so relevant for today’s society.

The poem was recited by a star cast led by actor Brian Cox with supermodel Eunice Olumide, historian and presenter Alistair Heather and presenter and academic Lesley Riddoch. The music was also provided by Oscar winner Patrick Doyle.

Click here to watch the video on our facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/105247661026106/videos/115686417102822