Dennis Canavan backs Our Islands Our Future
by Unknown - 10:41 on 23 September 2013
The Our Islands Our Future campaign being led by the islands councils in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles is likely to receive the broad backing of the Yes Scotland campaign, according to the chairman of its advisory board, Dennis Canavan.
The veteran politician, who was speaking after last week’s Our Islands Our Future conference in Kirkwall, agreed that the autonomy issue was an important one to consider for the Yes campaign given the views expressed in the two-day conference.
Mr Canavan said that if the views of the politicians at the conference was a reflection of the mood of the people who elected them, then ‘there is a strong feeling in Orkney, and in Shetland, and in the Western Isles, and indeed in the islands of Argyll and Bute, that they want autonomy for the islands.”
This was the message he would be taking back to Yes Scotland, and he said he expected it would be taken on board.
“Yes Scotland is not a political party and we can’t give detailed political commitments, but we can certainly express broad support to the principle and ideas, and I think that idea of a higher degree of autonomy will be supported amongst all members of the advisory board of Yes Scotland,” he said.
Mr Canavan’s visit to Orkney, to address the conference on behalf of Yes Scotland, also gave him the opportunity to meet Yes Orkney campaigners.
Orkney was the latest stop on Mr Canavan’s tour of Scotland after being appointed last year as chairman of the Yes Scotland advisory board. The former Labour MP and MSP, who is now no longer a member of any political party, took on the role because he felt it was important to have a broad-based Yes campaign rather than it being just fronted by the SNP.
“Obviously the SNP has a leading position in this as it was the government that won the mandate for the referendum, but it is very, very important that we reach out and get people in from different political backgrounds, different political parties, and people like myself who are not members of any political parties at all. So it was on that understanding that I agreed to join the advisory board.”
Once he’d agreed to join the board, he was quickly persuaded to chair it.
“But I am enjoying it. I like not just going out speaking to people, I like listening to people. I’ve travelled the length and breadth of Scotland, from Kirkwall to Kirkaldy, from Dunoon to Dunfermline and Stornoway to Stranraer.”
The advisory board now meets once a month to keep in touch with the management team running the Yes campaign.
Were there any changes he would like to see in the direction of the campaign in the final year?
“I don’t want to sound critical of the management team – I think we have an excellent management team at headquarters - but I think too often we seem to be on the back foot. We should be taking the initiative; we should be proactive rather than reactive,” he said.
At the same time, the campaign should be using its assets to best effect.
Mr Canavan said: “I think our greatest asset is the Yes team members throughout Scotland. When I’ve been on this great tour of Scotland the No campaign at community level are virtually invisible. They’re getting great coverage, of course, in the newspapers and on television and radio. But this campaign isn’t going to be won in television studios or radio stations, or in the columns of newspapers. I think it’s going to be won at grassroots and community level and we have got an army of volunteers, many of whom are still being trained up to be ambassadors, foot soldiers, whatever you want to call them. Once they have been fully trained and mobilised I think we are going to see a very comprehensive and successful campaign.”
He said that while the mass media, and indeed social media, was important he was a great believer in face-to-face communication and meeting in groups.
“That is even more so in island communities where people will trust their friends and their family telling them something rather than a politician coming in from somewhere else.”
He believes that this grassroots work will be valuable in winning over people that are as yet undecided.
“I don’t know anybody who’s switched from being a Yes voter to a No voter, but I know people who have gone the other way, either from No to Yes, or no to undecided. I think if we work away at that over the next 12 months I am quite optimistic. I’ve always maintained that it’s not a short-term sprint this campaign, it is like running a marathon. The runner that is ahead at the halfway stage is not necessarily the winner of the race.”
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