I RECENTLY had the privilege to attend the National Conference of the SNP affiliate Young Scots for Independence (YSI), formerly known as the “SNP Youth”, the party’s section for members below the age of 30.

The last time I’d attended one had been all the way back in 2015, and it was incredibly insightful to see the ways in which the organisation has changed for the better since those days.

The YSI then represented a hodgepodge organisation of potential careerists, young ideologues looking to add to their CV, or those engaged in the clique-driven popularity contests that sully the reputations of a great deal of youth-orientated political organisations.

It was an organisation that had more members than it knew what to do with, and a constitution so poorly defined that voting on its amendments was fraught with difficulties beyond mere pedantry over the written word.

There was a time, frankly, when people joined the YSI in order to secure a cushy career in Scottish politics. While tendency was not the refrain of any one individual, it is clear that it has taken a great deal and time and effort over the last decade to get to this point – an organisation that stands ready to grasp the torch of Scottish nationhood – and take the baton forward as our gaze extends to the future.

As we congregated at Perth Art Gallery from all corners of our country, it was clear that change had been implemented over those years I’d refused to touch the organisation (despite being a party member) with a bargepole. The ambience was one of hope, competence, and optimism for the kind of future that we young Scots could win for ourselves, and the future generations that will stand in our shoes.

It has long been said that the YSI is one of the more radical affiliates of the SNP, and this is something that its members have worn as a badge of pride for many years. In a surprising and radical move, members opted to organise a democratic committee to lay out the new constitutional framework for the organisation – ending years of direct rule from its ruling body, the National Executive Council. This radically democratic approach to in-organisation democracy bodes especially well when we consider the current problems faced by the SNP as a whole and increasing demands from the party’s grassroots members to play a larger role in decision-making processes. If these are the young people who are going to age into the party’s leaders and representatives in the years to come, God help those who stand in the way of a progressive and egalitarian, independent Scotland.

Among the resolutions were resolutions to utilise Scotland’s wealth of technological brilliance, our educated population, and our vast resources to improve the lives of all of our citizens, both young and old: The first was rolling out e-consultation services to make the Scottish NHS more accessible to disabled people and free up more time for in-person appointments.

The second highlighted the importance of educating the next generation of young Scots on the dangers of testicular cancer.

The third called for the expansion of the Saltire card scheme and the issuance of free bus passes to all under-30s to help young workers as we navigate the pressures of the cost of living crisis.

The fourth committed to teaching future generations of Scottish children and young adults on how to avoid coercive behaviour, reducing the likelihood of them being abused in a wide variety of contexts, and teaching self-reliance while providing the resources that will allow our young people to reach their full potential without fear or favour.

The fifth reaffirmed the YSI’s position that outdated institutions like the monarchy have no place in the independent Scotland to come – and that the legacy of landed gentry, clearances, freebies, and political corruption from an unelected head of state and a grossly overpowered familial class will no longer expand the rights of ordinary citizens to bolster their own positions of authority.

But particularly relevant to the present day was the final motion – to make Holocaust denial illegal in Scotland, while offering increased educational resources in combatting common myths about the mass extermination of Europe’s Jewish, Sinti, GRT, LGBTQ+ people, and political dissidents. In a world where the same bigotry that led to the Holocaust is becoming increasingly more accepted in public life, it becomes more important than ever that these conspiratorial notions are killed at their root, so that future generations may never suffer such horrors ever again.

I have been a member of the SNP for most of my adult life, and there was a time where YSI was a dirty acronym conjuring up the same levels of political opportunism and favour-finding as found in Young Labour or the Young Conservatives.

Now that I am a bit older, and somewhat wiser, I am more than happy to say that I could not be prouder of the youth section of the SNP for what they have gradually achieved in the last decade. We’re now a progressive, well-organised and dedicated force that has every chance of succeeding in reforming the Scottish National Party, returning the independence movement to its egalitarian roots, and inspiring generations yet unborn to fight for the Scotland that I am in no doubt we all want to live in. The passion and competence that is actively displayed by YSI members in 2024 goes above and beyond Scotland’s call, and it is clear that Generation Yes is ready to make their mark on our national body politic.

The future of the youth wing is bright – in time, I have very little doubt that this fresh blood and their new ideas will trickle up into existing party structures, and return the SNP to the social-democratic party of the Scottish people that they so deeply want us to be.
Eilidh McIntosh
Young Scots for Independence