A FEW years ago, I hired a new economics researcher and set him to work investigating trade statistics. After a few days, he asked for a meeting and told me something I will always remember.

“Have I got this wrong?” he asked. “It seems to me that every single source of data on Scotland’s trade, its economy and finances is either missing, presented in a confusing and contradictory manner, or measured in ways that aren’t directly comparable to other countries. It’s almost as if the system is set up to stop people from understanding anything useful about Scotland’s economy”.

I was impressed. It usually takes my researchers a month before they realise that almost every source of data on Scotland’s economy is compromised in some way. Scotland as a nation is data-poor and this allows Unionist politicians to cherry-pick statistics and paint Scotland in a bad way.

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It also leaves the electorate completely uneducated and vulnerable to scaremongering on the state of Scotland’s economy and its prospects as an independent nation.

For example, recent polling by Survation suggested that 75% of Scottish voters would support independence if they thought it would be good for the economy.

Last month, an IPSOS poll found that 43% think Scotland would be wealthier if we became independent, and 10% think we would be just as wealthy as we are now. Support for independence rises in tandem with faith in an independent Scotland’s economy – and the latest estimate of Yes support of 52% is directly related to the 53% who think an independent Scotland would be wealthier or just as wealthy.

People often tell me that you can’t convince voters to support independence with numbers alone, and they are right. However, you cannot convince anyone to switch to Yes by promoting policies they don’t think we can afford to implement.

This is why in 2016, my team and I at the political think tank Business For Scotland came up with the idea of creating a series of social media graphics. They would be brief positive micro messages about the strength of Scotland’s economy. We called then Scotland The Brief and published hundreds of them.

They were immensely popular, and at the end of the year, we found that they had a social media reach of 4.4 million views.

We realised then that there was a need for a much more detailed study of Scotland’s economy. One that cuts through the confusion, accounting tricks and downright lies, and produces a reference book on Scotland’s economy to put the record straight.

So we made one. We decided to write it in layman’s terms and illustrate it in a way that made it interesting and even fun to read in an attempt to be accessible for all. We also wanted to get as many copies in circulation as possible.

So, we published two books.

The first of these was the standard maxi version, with 200 pages and 418 references across 14 pages.

All our sources were published online to allow readers to fact-check. However, we knew that an expensive, detailed book was not a good campaigning tool, so we published an 86-page, pocket-sized mini version. That mini version has gone on to be one of the most effective campaigning tools the Yes movement has.

Business For Scotland also set up the Believe In Scotland campaign to supply local Yes Groups with campaigning materials, such as leaflets with key messages based on our polling. Believe In Scotland’s goal was to fill the gap left by the closure of Yes Scotland and offer a centre of operations, a support system for local groups.

We came up with a unique way to fund both the project and local Yes groups. We offered the book wholesale to groups (sometimes for as little as £1) so that they could sell it to supporters and fund their campaigning activities.

We estimate that local Yes groups have raised almost £40,000 from selling the first edition of the book, and we supplied every group that registered with our campaign with a free starter pack of books, leaflets, car stickers, badges, etc. This helped start up (and restart) as many as 40 Yes Groups across Scotland.

Now we have 127 affiliated local groups campaigning with our materials. That partnership has helped deliver 2.6m items of campaign materials through local Yes groups since 2019.

The first edition of Scotland The Brief was a great success, selling 50,000 copies.

We hope to replicate that with the second edition, which has 521 sourced facts in the latest 216-page maxi edition.

Scotland The Brief now also provides an analysis of several of the key economic policies of interest in Scotland’s constitutional debate – namely the impact of Brexit, pensions in an independent Scotland and if and when we should launch our own currency.

The launch event for the second edition on St Andrew’s Day in Glasgow was attended by almost 200 people, many of them long-serving independence campaigners and local Yes Group organisers. Hearing from them about how useful the book and related campaign materials are in engaging the undecided is inspiring.

They tell us that if you find someone who tells you: “their heart says Yes but their head says No”, the mini almost always results in a new Yes voter.

Scotland The Brief plants the seeds of belief in Scotland’s economy and lays the groundwork for people to vote for independence.

It’s helping to fund the Yes campaign; it is opening people’s eyes to the economic opportunities of independence and, most importantly, it is making people think more critically about Unionist rhetoric and believe that we truly can afford those progressive policies that will create a better Scotland.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp is the Chief Executive of Business For Scotland Ltd and the founder of the Believe In Scotland campaign.