Business for Scotland is a business network and business and economic policy think tank consisting of and representing business people who support

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 ...

Formation

Business for Scotland was founded by six Scottish business owners and directors, and generated over 250 members by word-of-mouth prior to the launch of its website. The organisation's membership had risen to 350 by the time of its official launch in May 2013, where it was publicly backed by

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

veteran and Scottish entrepreneur, Tony Banks. Business for Scotland membership at the time of the referendum was approximately 3,000.

Prominent business people

Tony Banks ( Balhousie Care Group), Graeme McCormick (Conveyancing Direct), Ian McDougall (McDougall Johnstone/ The Glasgow Distillery), Gillian O'Neill ( 29 Studios), Rob Aberdein (Walker Morris), Jil Murphy (Thin Red Line/ Head of BfS Edinburgh), Donald Maclean (Business Cost Consultants), Kenny Anderson ( Anderson Construction), David Cairns ( PrismTech/ Head of BfS Perth), Sandy Adam (Springfield Properties), Brian Souter ( Souter Investments).

Jim Mather James Stuart Mather (born 6 March 1947) is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism from 2007 to 2011 and a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 2003 to 2011. Mather was th ...

, who was a member of the Scottish Parliament for 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, ...

(SNP) between 2003 and 2011, and served as

Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

under the 2007-11 SNP government, was a director at the organisation. Michelle Rodger died in August 2021 having been Head of BfS Glasgow.

Scottish referendum

Business for Scotland Ltd registered with the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

as a "permitted participant" on the Yes side in the

2014 Scottish independence referendum A independence referendum, 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 ...

. It spent £143,027 campaigning at the independence referendum making it the largest spender of all the registered participant groups. After the referendum it was revealed that Business for Scotland received a £100,000 donation from Stagecoach founder Brain Souter. The Founder and Chief Executive of the organisation, and registered responsible person with the electoral commission was Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp. The organisation was chaired during the referendum by Tony Banks. Pro-Unionist blogger Kevin Hague put a complaint in to the

to consider whether the SNP and Business for Scotland had worked together during the Scottish referendum. The Electoral Commission "found no evidence during its assessment that the SNP and BFS worked together" and consequently stated there was no need to open a full investigation into the allegations. This was reported in the Herald that the Electoral Commission gave the accusations extremely short shrift. In 2017 a pro-union Scottish Business UK group was set up by Scottish businesses to argue against independence in opposition to Business for Scotland.

Membership

By March 2014, membership of the organisation was claimed to be in excess of 1300. As of July 2017 the membership of the organisation was claimed to be 4,000.

Company formation

Business for Scotland, SC430989, was first registered on 23 August 2012 by a sole director named as Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp. It is registered as a private, limited by guarantee, company, with no shareholdings.

References

External links

* {{2014 Scottish independence referendum 2012 establishments in Scotland 2012 in British politics Organizations established in 2012 Political campaigns in the United Kingdom Scottish nationalist organisations 2014 Scottish independence referendum Political advocacy groups in Scotland Business in Scotland