THE SCOTTISH REFERENDUM* Lib Dem Campaign Guides by Liberal Insider* W: www.liberalinsider.co.uk | E: peter@liberalinsider.co.uk These guides are produced by Lib Dem members and are not endorsed or authorised by the Lib Dems
Introduction* On Thursday 18 September, the people of Scotland went out to make history; by voting on whether they wanted to be part on the United Kingdom or not. The Scottish Independence Referendum was a vote like no other. It was a vote that left the best political analysists in the country trying to find any way they could of getting some indication as to what the result could be. Anyone who watched the BBC coverage, imaginatively called Scotland Decides, was treated to visuals of the European Election results from May, the socio-economic background of different parts of the country and even how many people called themselves Scottish and English. There was no exit poll and the first indication we got was when people at the counts Tweeted. However, in the end there are things we can learn for the referendum campaign. The Lib Dems were part of one of the largest peacetime
Liberal Insider will be taking an outsiders view on how our campaign the campaign without the stress that the campaign team had. This will almost certainly be the only referendum of the type we have in went wrong and what went well in Scotland, we can make sure we and when we stand as Liberal Democrats and not as Better Together or No Thanks. Mistakes were made and lessons learned in Scotland. Now we have to act on them.
Lib Dem Campaign Guides by Liberal Insider* W: www.liberalinsider.co.uk | E: peter@liberalinsider.co.uk These guides are produced by Lib Dem members and are not endorsed or authorised by the Lib Dems
really? The Scottish Independence Referendum saw a return to people politics. Campaign groups, both connected to one of the two official campaigns and some independent, sprung up all over the country. Very early on, it was by Alistair Darling for No and Alex Salmond for Yes.
street. ~ Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister, former Labour Leader and No Voter
Members of the public were forming campaign groups and organising meetings without a political party being involved. Without the pro-union parties on one side and the SNP on the other, the campaign would not have been run with the efficiency that was seen, but if there their chosen side the campaign would have been stagnant within months. The sheer number of people who were getting out and about for both sides is the first lesson that we have to learn: mobilisation. On the doorstep, on the phone, online, people were mobilised and committed.
all campaigners were working for a no vote, but we have to get better at mobilising if we want to secure election victories in future.
Lib Dem Campaign Guides by Liberal Insider* W: www.liberalinsider.co.uk | E: peter@liberalinsider.co.uk These guides are produced by Lib Dem members and are not endorsed or authorised by the Lib Dems
How did we perform? Better Together claimed to be the all party and no party group campaigning for Scotland to remain part of the UK. Of course, political parties were behind the national delivery of the campaign. As a party, the Liberal Democrats contributed as much as we could to the campaign. We gave time, resources and money to Better Together, all in huge amounts. But, with both Labour and the Conservatives in on the campaign, how well did we do really? And can we justify taking any credit for the no? Firstly, Labour activists (not the party, but the grassroots members) were split, with a vocal group deciding that a yes vote would rid Scotland of Conservatives and would therefore be good for the country. This meant that the Labour Yes vote, led by campaign group Labour For Independence, could have been as high as 42% of their supporters from 2010 (a number begrudgingly taken from the Yes Scotland website so maybe not quite true, other sources say up to 20%). Yes voters hailing from a Labour background included former UK Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle, former Scottish Labour chairman Bob Thomson and Sir Charles Gray.
Of course, there were Lib Dems and Conservatives campaigning for a yes vote as well, and SNP and Green activists fighting for a no, but nowhere near the numbers of Labour activists and members going for a yes. On the Conservative front, in an article for the Daily Record, Joan McAlpine MSP (a biased source, but SNP opinions still count) claimed a man wearing a Labour rosette and handing out No Thanks Labour leaflets was in fact a Conservative Councillor. Perhaps a move by the Conservatives to try and downplay the troubles Labour were
Lib Dem Campaign Guides by Liberal Insider* W: www.liberalinsider.co.uk | E: peter@liberalinsider.co.uk These guides are produced by Lib Dem members and are not endorsed or authorised by the Lib Dems
facing, in an attempt to maintain the united look of the no campaign, this could perhaps be seen as a positive: campaigners were campaigning for an ideal, not a party, and that party politics had taken a back seat for a couple of months. Or you could, as McAlpine did, suggest that Better Together was actively hiding things like who their activists were much of an issue (apart from the fact it means that local residents must, no matter how hard it might be, be open about the fact that we be even worse in a normal election). If you would like to read the article, go to http:/dft.ba/-wrongrosette. Not that any of that tells us how we performed as a party.
The Liberal Democrats gave everything they had. Members were going up to Scotland, Liberal Youth funded campaign trips to Scotland, Blether Together to make calls. In fact, it would have been hard to do any more if we tried (although some would argue that we could have done more). In the end, the Lib Dems did as much as anyone else;. The challenge now is to take the commitment and dedication that we saw in Scotland and make sure it can be seen all over the UK as we head into the next General Election. And as a result of Scottish votes, Britain will never be the same again. ~ Willie Rennie MSP, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
Lib Dem Campaign Guides by Liberal Insider* W: www.liberalinsider.co.uk | E: peter@liberalinsider.co.uk These guides are produced by Lib Dem members and are not endorsed or authorised by the Lib Dems
The digital campaign. The Scottish Independence Referendum proved that campaigning must become more digital. Weekly graphs were released showing which Facebook pages had the most likes, had the biggest growth and who had the most followers on Twitter.
For many, the digital campaign seemed over bearing and unnecessary, but the independence referendum saw under 35s turnout to vote in huge numbers. The generation that have voted least, the under 24s, were engaged through Facebook and Twitter and encouraged to make their voice heard. For a long time Lib Dems have been talking about making sure that we have email address and that we advertise our websites. Voters have but now we should start encouraging people to follow their local Lib Dems on Twitter and liking us on Facebook. We should start replying to questions and comments from Facebook and Twitter. If you want an example of how to do this, take a look at Tim Twitter, because he is connecting with people on Twitter all the time. We cannot neglect to make sure we are hitting digital campaigns. Targeting voters on Facebook, Twitter, through email and with responsive websites means that we Remember Liberal Insider* offers help and support to Lib Dems who want to go digital. If you want to make sure your digital campaign is as good as it can be, get in touch with us.
phone or the doorstep.
Lib Dem Campaign Guides by Liberal Insider* W: www.liberalinsider.co.uk | E: peter@liberalinsider.co.uk These guides are produced by Lib Dem members and are not endorsed or authorised by the Lib Dems
Liberal Insider* are dedicated to making sure the Liberal Democrats are ready and able to take our campaigns online. The digital world is changing constantly and we will make sure that you can keep up to date with best practices and win the online campaign. Our resources are free for Liberal Democrats to use.
Liberal Insider* 19 Fairfield Square Wymering Hampshire PO6 3JS www.liberalinsider.co.uk peter@liberalinsider.co.uk 07898 212352 Lib Dem Campaign Guides by Liberal Insider* W: www.liberalinsider.co.uk | E: peter@liberalinsider.co.uk These guides are produced by Lib Dem members and are not endorsed or authorised by the Lib Dems