Better Together’s ‘positive’ new advert drive

Better Together hopes to emphasise the benefits of Scotland remaining part of the UK

It has emerged that two-thirds of Scots want to see a more positive case from the campaign led by former Chancellor Alistair Darling, according to a new poll.

Senior figures in the No campaign have voiced concerns over the negative approach, while Nationalists have dubbed the campaign “Project Fear”.

Billboard posters and a nationwide cinema campaign will get under way next Monday, Better Together has revealed, carrying its “Best of Both Worlds” message to undecided voters.

Better Together campaign director Blair McDougall said: “There is an incredibly powerful, positive case for Scotland staying part of the United Kingdom.

“We have our own Scottish Parliament making decisions about important areas of everyday life such as health, education and law and order. And we have the strength, security and stability that comes from being a part of something bigger. With more powers for our Scottish Parliament guaranteed, that means we can have the best of both worlds if we vote to stay in the UK.”

A Panelbase poll for Yes Scotland found that 66 per cent of people want a more positive case to be set out, 18 per cent do not and 16 per cent don’t know.

It found that among those intending to vote No in the referendum, 80 per cent would like to see a more positive campaign.

A Yes Scotland spokesman said: “It was people in the No campaign themselves who described their campaign as ‘Project Fear’, and its relentless negativity is beginning to prove an electoral turn-off. The ‘apocalyptic’ speech by Lord Robertson was just the latest example.”

The No campaign has come under fire recently after a speech by former Nato secretary- general Lord Robertson warned of “cataclysmic” global consequences after a Yes vote.

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has been among those advocating a more positive approach from the No campaign and even called at the party’s spring conference earlier this month for a “sunshine strategy” to be adopted.

But Better Together warned that its new campaign will be part of a series of adverts that point out the risks involved in leaving the UK in terms of Scottish jobs, pensions and losing the UK pound.

Mr McDougall added: “In setting out our positive case for staying in the UK, we also have a duty to highlight the risks going it alone would involve.

“We know that we would lose the pound. We know that employer after employer is pointing out the risk independence would bring for Scottish jobs. And we know that even the Nationalists admit there are very real doubts about the affordability of pensions if we go it alone.

“Talking about the benefits of being in the UK and pointing out the risks of separation are two sides of the same coin.”

Nationalists have claimed they are winning the battle to get volunteers out on the doorstep and are winning the “ground campaign” which has resulted in the polls swinging towards a Yes vote since the turn of the year.

But Better Together insists it has “thousands of activists” out every week persuading undecided voters about the benefits of a No vote.