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Scotland in Union
Scottish unionist campaign group From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Scotland in Union (SIU) is a Pro-UK campaign group based in Scotland. It was established in 2015 to campaign for continuing Scotland's status as a constituent country within the United Kingdom, following the 2014 independence referendum. It has 37,000 signed-up supporters as of 2025[update].[1]
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History
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Scotland in Union launched on 6 March 2015,[2] with the aim of promoting Scotland's place within the UK. The group was created in the wake of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, in which 55 per cent of those who voted chose to keep Scotland within the UK.[3] Scotland in Union is a not-for-profit private company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland.[4]
The organisation was initially led by its founder Alastair Cameron, a former Army captain.[3] In January 2017, Scottish Labour's former Justice spokesperson Graeme Pearson was announced as Chief Executive.[5] In August 2017, former Labour MP Pamela Nash took over the role,[6] stepping down in March 2024. Since March 2024, SIU has again been led by founder and Chair, Alastair Cameron.
In 2016, Scottish National Party MP Natalie McGarry apologised and paid compensation, after sending a tweet about the leadership of SIU. McGarry later described the tweet as 'a serious mistake'.[7] SIU's founder, Alastair Cameron, announced that the compensation money would be distributed to three charities: mental health charity Combat Stress, genocide awareness charity Aegis Trust and children's charity Lumos.[8]
In December 2017, SIU informed the police and the Information Commissioner's Office that they had suffered a data theft.[9] Subsequent to this incident, the Electoral Commission carried out an investigation of SIU's donations. Following the investigation, the Commission said it was "satisfied" that SIU had complied with its requirements.[10]
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Campaigns and activities
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Polling
SIU regularly commissions opinion polling on Scottish independence, with most being phrased similarly to the 2016 EU membership referendum, with "Remain" and "Leave" as possible answers as opposed to the independence referendum's "Yes" and "No".[11] In 2021, three political academics carried out a study which demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the remain/leave and the yes/no question formulations.[12] Another test of the effect of the question wording was carried out via a YouGov poll in March 2022, in which the sample was split and half were asked a yes/no question and half were asked a remain/leave question; this poll found a significant difference in support for remaining in the UK, depending on the question asked.[13] The remain/leave format has been criticised by pro-independence politicians, including the SNP depute leader Keith Brown who said in September 2019 that it was "a deliberate bid to confuse independence with Brexit".[11][14]
Polling commissioned by SIU has also asked when people think another referendum on Scotland leaving the UK should be held, if at all; and has asked people about priority areas for Scottish politicians. One example of this was a poll in May 2022 which found that only 29% of Scots wanted another referendum before the end of 2023.[15] Another poll in September 2022 found that only 7 per cent of Scots think independence is among the most important issues for the Scottish Government.[16] This was again confirmed in September 2024 with new polling showing only 7 per cent of Scots believe independence should be a priority for the Scottish Government.[17]
A poll conducted by Survation in March 2025, commissioned by Scotland in Union, surveyed over 1,000 Scots on their views regarding security, nuclear deterrence, and international alliances. The results indicated that 47% of respondents felt Scotland is more secure as part of the United Kingdom, compared to 35% who believed security would be maintained if the UK were dissolved. On the issue of Trident, the UK’s nuclear deterrent, 56% supported its retention, while 22% opposed it. The poll also found strong support for the UK’s international memberships, with 80% valuing Nato, 76% backing UN Security Council membership, and 74% favouring G7 participation. Scotland in Union highlighted these findings amid ongoing debates over Scottish independence and the SNP’s opposition to nuclear weapons.[18][19][20][21]
Economics-focused campaigns
To coincide with the annual publication of the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland figures, known as GERS, SIU introduced a new method to break down the 'UK dividend' from which Scotland benefits,[22] for local communities across Scotland.[23] In addition, SIU's Chief Executive, Pamela Nash, has written articles to highlight the benefits to Scottish public spending which come from sharing across the UK.[24][25]
SIU has also highlighted the Scottish Government's Export Statistics Scotland publication,[26] to increase awareness of the proportion of Scotland's trade with the rest of the UK and to call for more open acknowledgement of Scotland's trade situation.[27]
2023 spending priorities campaign
In late 2022, after the UK Supreme Court had ruled that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence,[28] SIU launched a campaign to demonstrate alternative uses for the £20m the SNP administration was still apparently allocating to a referendum in 2023.[29] After the SNP announced that the £20m was in fact being diverted to the fuel insecurity fund, which was one of the suggestions SIU had made, this change was welcomed by SIU's Chief Executive.[30]
End The Spend petition
In 2023, SIU launched the 'End The Spend' campaign in response to the Scottish Government's expenditure on activities relating to independence.[31]
Tactical voting campaigns
SIU's first campaign was to encourage tactical voting against the Scottish National Party during the 2015 UK general election.[2]
SIU also encouraged tactical voting in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, and in November 2019, SIU launched an online tactical voting guide for Scottish voters in the run up to the 2019 UK general election. This guide suggested which party people should vote for in their constituency if their priority was to stop the SNP.[32]
In the run up to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, SIU launched its tactical voting campaign for voters whose priority was stopping an SNP majority and another referendum. An SNP majority was stopped, with Sir John Curtice commenting that tactical voting probably played a part in this outcome.[33] According to a Scottish Election Study by academics across the UK, released in May 2022, "significant numbers of people voted for both the Conservatives and Labour as part of efforts to defeat the SNP and strengthen the Union".[34]
SIU promoted tactical voting during the campaign for the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[35]
Devolved functions campaigns
SIU has run a series of campaigns to highlight poor performance by nationalist administrations. These have mostly used data obtained via Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 requests, and have included items covering health and income inequalities[36][37] and cancer waiting times.[38]
In January 2023, SIU released polling (conducted in December 2022), showing that most people in Scotland thought that the SNP is performing poorly in its handling of key public services.[39]
In September 2024 SIU Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 request revealed that Scotland's NHS has paid out over £11million in compensation to cancer patients whose treatment was delayed.[40]
Billboards, advertising and print media
SIU has used billboards on several occasions, including in 2016, when SIU paid for a large billboard advert near the SNP conference in Glasgow, urging Nicola Sturgeon to "change the record" on independence and rule out another vote.[41] In 2017 in Aberdeen, again outside the SNP conference, SIU organised an advertising van with the message 'Referendumb' that was unveiled to awaiting press as SNP members gathered for the conference.[42] A billboard campaign was launched again in 2021 in the run up to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[43]
In September 2018, SIU launched a 'Yawn' campaign, using newspaper advertisements. This was a campaign aimed at people who are 'tired' of the constant constitutional debate; "SNP politicians are still campaigning for an independence referendum that Scotland does not want. Tired of this?" The campaign gained additional media attention when a Police Scotland Twitter account tweeted in apparent support of the campaign, before deleting their tweet.[44]
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Events
Scotland in Union has held local political and social events, mostly in Scotland, but also in London and online. The events have ranged from talks about Scotland's economy, to Burns Night celebrations and events to mark St Andrew's Day, to a Parliamentary reception in at the House of Commons.[45]
At various events, across the UK and online, SIU has been joined and supported by politicians from across the main pro-UK parties including Ruth Davidson,[46] Anas Sarwar, Christine Jardine,[47] David Mundell,[48] Andrew Bowie, Mike Rumbles,[49] Martin Whitfield, Beatrice Wishart, Jackie Baillie,[50] Murdo Fraser, Alistair Carmichael, Johann Lamont,[51] Ian Murray,[45] Alex Cole-Hamilton,[52] Willie Rennie,[53] Wendy Chamberlain, Jamie Stone, Michael Shanks, Meghan Gallacher[54] Donald Cameron,[55] Blair McDougall, Susan Murray,[56] Jackson Carlaw, Stephen Kerr and Daniel Johnson.[57]
See also
References
External links
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