A NEW independence billboard campaign is being launched today which will compare Boris Johnson to Donald Trump for his “denial of democracy” over a second referendum.
The adverts will also highlight concerns over the state pension and how Scotland can take a different approach to the economy and wellbeing once it leaves the UK.
The initiative, which will also be rolled out on social media, is being organised by Believe in Scotland, the national Yes campaign set up by Business for Scotland.
The first wave of billboards will go up on sites in major towns and cities throughout the country and Believe in Scotland said it is working closely with local Yes groups to book smaller, more rural sites.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, the organiser of the Believe in Scotland campaign, said more than 50 sites across Scotland will be booked over the next couple of months.
He told the Sunday National: “With so much internalisation and discord in the Yes movement right now we want to offer independence supporters the chance to unite behind a positive, innovative and highly effective independence messaging campaign”.
The campaign will focus on several key messages, targeting areas with specific demographics. The first week will see messages on Scotland’s right to have a second referendum following a Yes majority in May’s Holyrood elections.
One of the adverts compares Johnson saying no to a second independence referendum to Trump’s calls to stop the count during the US Presidential election.
On his visit to Scotland last month, the Prime Minister again signalled he would reject a request from Nicola Sturgeon to hold a second referendum if there is an independence majority in the May elections.
He said: “The very same people who go on and on about another referendum said only a few years ago in 2014 that this was a once in a generation event. I’m inclined to stick with what they said last time.”
Another billboard message will focus on pensions, highlighting the UK pays the worst state pension in the developed world as a percentage of final earnings, according to data from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Believe in Scotland is calling for the pension to rise to at least meet the European average and also pressing the SNP to confirm a new economic message for independence refocused on the wellbeing of Scotland’s people.
The organisation’s 14,000-strong Facebook group and its paying membership had the chance to select the images to be used in the advertising push.
This has resulted in the pensions message alone being shared almost 1000 times on Facebook and being seen by nearly 50,000 people before the advertising drive gets under way.
MacIntyre-Kemp said “several thousand pounds” had been allocated to the fresh push to boost support for Yes, which comes as opposition parties are in “full campaign and panic mode”.
He said this could be seen in the “politicising” of the pandemic, such as the recent accusations Scotland is falling behind on the vaccination programme.
Last week saw the 21st consecutive poll recording majority support for independence.
Some 47% of respondents said Scotland should be an independent country, with 42% opposed in the Savanta ComRes research, commissioned by the Scotsman,
When don’t knows are excluded, 53% backed Yes, while 47% backed No.
Believe in Scotland has also teamed up with The National to launch the Yes challenge, to nominate an undecided friend to receive 24 articles explaining the benefits of independence.
The series was launched with an article in which Scots explain what inspires them to believe in independence.
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