Progress Scotland is a pro-

Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...

think tank, launched in February 2019. Founded by the former deputy leader of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

Angus Robertson Angus Struan Carolus Robertson (born 28 September 1969) is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture since 2021. Formerly Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 201 ...

and former Director of Ipsos Mori, Mark Diffley. The organisation commissions research,

opinion polling An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of que ...

and

focus groups A focus group is a group interview involving a small number (sometimes up to ten) of demographically predefined participants. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are used in market research ...

with the goal of strategising towards a campaign for

. Scottish First Minister

Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) sin ...

has endorsed Progress Scotland, describing it as "brilliant".

History

Progress Scotland was set up by

, after he lost his parliamentary seat at

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

at the 2017 general election, in conjunction with Mark Diffney, the former director of the market research company Ipsos Mori. The think tank's main focus is on Scots who voted against independence in the 2014

Scottish independence referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side won ...

, but who have changed their minds, or have considered changing their minds - with a view to aiding a pro-independence victory in any future referendum. One of the central arguments put forward by

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Plac ...

for setting up Progress Scotland, is his perception that the pro-independence campaign of 2014 had failed to evolve in terms of its arguments and strategy. In an interview, he said: "What is the point in simply re-running the question in the hope that just because one speaks a bit louder or knocks at the front door a bit louder that one’s going to get the ball across the line?”

Funding

Progress Scotland claims to be funded through donations and public subscriptions, though its reserves or the identity of large donors is not known.

References

{{Reflist Politics of Scotland Think tanks based in Scotland

History

Funding

See also

References