THIS St Andrew’s-tide, as a million independence focused newspapers go through letterboxes in what is the largest independence information campaign since 2014, and as the SNP meets in virtual conference for what I hope is the last time before we gather together physically again, I detect a renewed eagerness in the Yes camp.

After a difficult time, and with the demands of the pandemic still upon us, we are once again limbering up to spread the independence message.

It remains obvious that a greater degree of post-pandemic normality is required to have the face-to-face persuasion and conversion campaign that we still need to move on and up from the current 50/50 split for and against independence.

But as we prepare for that to happen, we need to bring together as much of the Yes movement as possible and the newspaper (produced by three separate independence supporting organisations – the SNP, Believe in Scotland and The National) is not only a sign that it can done, but also a spur to greater effort.

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The first independence referendum was in large part the culmination of 70 years of commitment by a single party, the SNP, and took place as a result of its parliamentary majority. Of course, as the campaign proceeded it also became the product of – and was energised by – a wider range of participants including the Green Party, the Scottish Socialists and others as well as sectoral and interest groups such as the massively influential Women for Indy and many non-aligned individuals.

The SNP will still be the largest single grouping in the coming referendum campaign, which, as the First Minister has indicated, will take place in the first half of this Parliament, but the wider movement has also remained in existence and is now much bigger, much more diverse and somewhat less focused on party politics than that which took shape in the run-up to September 2014.

The people of Scotland have a democratic right, enshrined in international law and articulated in the Claim of Right, to “determine the form of government best suited to their needs”. Active support for that is increasingly being expressed not only in the ballot box but also in street activity, meetings and campaigns by many non-party groupings and organisations.

Moreover, the right to choose is endorsed by a growing number of civic bodies. In fact, it all feels much more like what preceded the successful 1997 devolution referendum rather than the earlier, gerrymandered one in 1979.

Consequently, in order to make sure that there is a new focused, persuasive, confident, outward-looking and inspiring Yes campaign, all of us will need to respond to these changes. First of all, those who see the value of unity – and there is great value in it – will need to agree to disagree on some key issues.

We will be united by the right to choose our collective way forward while acknowledging that, once we have chosen, there will be many possible futures, and many decisions still to be made about the exact type of Scotland we put in place.

It is no secret that the past year has been a difficult one in parts of the Yes camp. The bitterness that some have shown, and still show, alas, towards former colleagues has been as distressing as it has been harmful. The uninvolved have, understandably, sometimes fought shy of either side.

Some of that continues, particularly on social media, and it needs to be called out. It is not only totally counter-productive, it is a gift to those who oppose the better Scotland we must achieve. Splits in progressive movements always end up in denunciations of both motivation and action. In the 1980s, SNP fundamentalists saw SNP gradualists as “not real nationalists”. Now the claim is that some people never believed in independence anyway and are only in politics for what they can get out of it.

These accusations are offensive nonsense but until they are put aside they debase and diminish the full potential of a broadly based new Yes structure based on mutual respect and an agreement to work together despite genuinely held different views on some important policy and process issues.

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Unity always needs effort, compromise and transparency in equal measure. The work that Believe in Scotland, The National and the SNP – along with the Greens – have done on the newspaper has aspired to all three. For example, wellbeing as a core concept needs explanation, and finding the way to ensure that is done within the context of the ongoing work of two governing parties limited inevitably by the unsatisfactory nature of the devolved settlement has required thought and imagination.

Of course, the three differently placed partners had different internal objectives in supporting the idea of a campaigning newspaper at this time. For me, the key one was getting something into the hands of the people of Scotland – or as many of them as possible – before the end of 2021 which would continue to spread and develop the independence message.

The others had their needs too, and by means of civilised discussion, always based on finding a positive way forward, we all got at least some of what we wanted. That is testified to by the million papers that are now either in people’s homes or on their way there. Some people who should know better will decry and denounce the partners for doing this. Sadly in so doing, they place themselves outside the big, broad tent that the Yes movement for the coming indyref needs to be.

I believe the message the newspaper sends is this: the overwhelming majority of Yessers want to bring good faith, good intentions, good campaigning experience – and good manners – to the new indyref table, and share those contributions in the service of a vital cause that is bigger than any of us. And if we all agree to do so, a million newspapers is just the start.