Who are Believe in Scotland?
Believe in Scotland is the Scottish independence campaign managed by Business for Scotland Ltd. Its role is to engage and convince undecided and soft No voters and to support the grassroots Yes campaign with materials, research, messaging, design services and to help coordinate campaigning across Scotland.
Believe in Scotland is the national grassroots campaign for Scottish independence. It exists to reach out to undecided votes and to help and support the needs of the grassroots Yes movement on a local and national level.
Believe in Scotland is effectively a coalition of 142 affiliated grassroots Yes Groups The campaign is steered by a National Campaign Steering Group, consisting of elected representatives from 17 regions across Scotland and representatives from 10 national campaigning Groups. The second round of elections to the National Campaign Steering Group took place in August/September 2023. Representatives are elected by the local Yes Groups in each of our 17 regions (you can see a list of our affiliated groups here). Representatives from national organisations have been chosen internally by the national organisation. You can view the elected members of the National Campaign Steering Group here.
Believe in Scotland operates as a campaign that is managed by the pro-independence business network Business for Scotland Ltd.
A limited company called Believe in Scotland Ltd (BiS Ltd) has been set up with a view to give more legal brand protection to Believe in Scotland. This company exists and can be found on the Companies House website, however it is not used for trading purposes. Business for Scotland Ltd acts as a secretariat to the Believe in Scotland campaign, managing the creation and distribution of campaigning materials etc.
Should a second referendum or a de facto referendum be called BiS Ltd will immediately be activated and Believe in Scotland will perform the role of Lead Campaign Group previously fulled by the now defunct Yes Scotland.
Business for Scotland Ltd is a leading business network, business and economic policy lobbying and economic consulting company that runs multiple social policy and political campaigns. Believe in Scotland is a campaign managed by Business for Scotland Ltd on behalf of the Believe in Scotland National Steering Group and its 143 partnering local grassroots independence campaign groups.
Business for Scotland was founded in the 1990s to campaign for Scottish devolution and is credited with being a major player in the devolution referendum. In 2011, the organisation was taken over and relaunched in its current form by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, who changed Business for Scotland from a Devo-Max supporting organisation to one that fully supports Scottish independence and indeed now effectively leads the Scottish independence campaign.
In the 2014 independence referendum, Business for Scotland was the highest spending, most prolific and most active special interest group on either side of the debate. In 2015, the Business for Scotland board decided to keep campaigning for Scottish independence until we win. In 2019, at the request of multiple local Yes Groups, Believe in Scotland was set to support local Yes campaigners and fill the void left by the demise of Yes Scotland.
Business for Scotland does not return any profit to directors or shareholders. All cash surpluses from research, consulting, events and memberships are spent on managing our campaigns.
Business for Scotland received the highest possible “A” rating for its financial transparency from Open Democracy’s Who Funds You? Project. The Business for Scotland Funding page can be viewed here. https://www.businessforscotland.com/who-funds-us/