AT the SNP manifesto launch last week, the biggest cheer during Nicola Sturgeon’s speech came when she spoke of her confidence in persuading a majority of Scots to back independence.
The First Minister made clear the question facing her was not about if she would hold a second independence referendum, but when.
She conceded there were some voters who would never be convinced by the arguments for a Yes vote, telling the 1,400-strong audience she and her party must respect their views, but she underlined there were very many others who reluctantly voted No on September 18 2014.
It is this latter group whom the summer initiative will target.
Stewart Hosie, the SNP’s depute leader, is the politician given the job of co-ordinating this six-to-eight-week drive.
Already, senior people who were involved in the 2014 campaign are wanting to get involved, keen to use their experiences and work with others nationwide to come up with fresh strategies to address why Scotland can, should, and one day will become a fully self-governing nation.
Hosie’s position and experience as the party’s economy spokesman at Westminster will be vital to the initiative’s success.
With much of the key concerns tied up with issues such as future pension guarantees, the currency that our new country would use, and an independent Scotland’s prosperity, Hosie is well-placed to come up with cogent responses that can be presented clearly and persuasively to doubting Unionists – and used to rebut the inevitable counter arguments from a new "Project Fear".
The Yes campaign did not win in 2014, but it made significant progress during the two-year campaign to convert many people who started out on the pro-Union side.
With the summer initiative determined to reach out and engage swithering voters as well as those who didn’t vote in 2014, there is reason to be confident that thousands more can be swayed.
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