THE Scottish Independence Congress has overwhelmingly backed proposals for a Citizens’ Convention on Independence.

The Congress – organised by grassroots campaign Believe in Scotland (BiS) – meets four times a year, and is open to all independence campaigning groups across Scotland.

It is the biggest meeting of grassroots independence campaign groups, with almost all active groups being affiliated to BiS.

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In a meeting which took place on August 21, almost all delegates (91%) backed a Citizens’ Convention as a way to progress the independence movement.

The convention was first proposed by BiS last month as a way of creating “a new path to independence for Scotland, one that circumnavigates the unfair and completely undemocratic roadblocks set up by Westminster”.

The congress was chaired by Ruth Ritchie of Yes Annandale and featured BiS founder Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp (below) as the main speaker.

Jacqui Jensen of Yes Perth held a session for delegates to suggest improvements to the Citizens’ Convention proposal, before Mike Robertson of Yes Orkney co-ordinated a polling session.

During the polling session, 91% of activists said they agreed that the proposed Citizens’ Convention would be the most effective way to drive civic engagement around “creating a better Scotland”.

Meanwhile, 92% of activists said they supported a “three pillars approach” to achieving independence, which includes:

  1. A strong and competent political arm
  2. An active and coordinated grassroots campaign
  3. A new national convention to engage the Scottish people on the task of creating a better Scotland

A total of 84% agreed that the Scottish Government should fund the Citizens’ Convention, whilst 84% also said that the approach most likely to deliver independence in the shortest possible time frame, once support for independence has increased, is through a de facto referendum.

Almost all (96%) of respondents said a non party-political approach to engaging the public on independence is crucial to “firing up the indy campaign” again and creating a “new and productive role for the grassroots independence movement”.

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And 98% said BIS should continue to offer meetings with other independence organisations to build mutual respect and work together towards achieving independence. Around 155 activists took part.

Following the results of the polling, BiS said it would continue to reach out to pro-indy discussion groups, forums, think tanks and leading influencers in the movement to meet and understand each other’s “plans, hopes and ambitions” for achieving Scotland’s independence.

On their website, BiS said: “Some people may not be interested in a united front, they may wish to do their own thing but that doesn't mean there should not be understanding and communication between the groups and we aim to facilitate that.”