A FORMER Yes Scotland researcher has urged SNP leadership to use the Holyrood 2026 elections as a launchpad for a permanent independence campaign.
Glasgow councillor Angus Millar, who has been nominated to stand for selection in the Glasgow Anniesland constituency, is leading his bid with a call for Scottish independence to be “front and centre” of the SNP’s 2026 campaign.
Millar hopes his party can use the Holyrood election to first, kick-off a wider rejuvenation of the movement, and then, for a permanent full-time campaign to use the momentum to take forward the case for independence.
"The Yes Scotland campaign was a great example of how we can bring together people across the independence movement and inspire new people to join the movement, because there was a dedicated team of full-time staff," Millar told The National.
"Having that kind of broad campaign with all the different groups, with people of all walks of life, who are coming to build the case for independence - that's what we need to get back to and recapture."
Millar joined the SNP in 2012 ahead of the independence referendum and went on to work full-time as a researcher for the national Yes Scotland campaign, which grew independence support to 45% from the mid-20s.
Yes Scotland was a full-time group of campaigners who pulled together facts about Scotland's strengths and the opportunities of independence, as well as rebutting arguments from the No side.
This is what Millar, and thousands of others, want to see again. It it widely accepted the independence movement is asking itself, "what next?" going into the next Holyrood election, as campaigners across pro-independence parties look to leadership for answers.
"But it's really challenging to bring the entire country with you when you're just speaking as one political party," Millar admits.
Millar, who also assisted in the formation of the youth campaign Generation Yes in 2014, is calling for the SNP to reach out to grassroots groups as "the first port of call" on the journey to establishing a permanent campaign.
He said the campaign requires leadership and the energy of grassroot activists who have been doing the hard work keeping the campaign alive over the last 10 years.
“I think number one is, absolutely, we need to be speaking to everybody in the independence movement who's continued to do such great work for the last 10 years,” Millar said.
“We have grassroots organisations like Believe in Scotland and others who are already working so hard in that space. That should be the first port of call; to see how we bring all the different elements of the campaign together.”
When asked about how a full-time campaign would be funded, Millar pointed to Yes Scotland’s structure of donations and said: “It wasn't funded by the government, it was funded by donations from individuals and from donors.
“Obviously you would need to have a clear plan in place around how independence could be taken forward, but I think a lot of people in the country who want to support the case for independence, and they're looking for that outlet."
He added: “We need to have leadership first and foremost at senior levels of the independence movement, and I think that starts with the SNP saying, ‘actually, this is something we support. We want to be a part of this. We want to reach out to the wider movement.’”
