IT will be hard work, but it will be worth it.
Maybe if we’d heard a bit more of that from the Yes campaign in 2014, then Scotland would now be an independent country.
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Ten years on from that historic referendum, the questions over why Salmond and Sturgeon lost, and what might happen if there’s a re-run, are being dusted off again — but with the benefit of a decade of hindsight.
I covered the referendum race for two years at The Scottish Sun, and have reported on the crazy past decade.
I don’t pretend to have the answers as to what more the Yes side could have done in 2014.
But research has shown — and it’s widely accepted by all sides — that older Scots voted heavily in favour of No.
Change was in the air
So, despite most of those in their 20s and 30s backing independence, it wasn’t enough.
Many of that younger generation, including what I’d call the ‘carefree idealist’, bought a romantic vision of an independent Scotland, shaking off the shackles of Westminster, free to soar and meet its unlimited potential.
They absorbed the campaign ads showing this beautiful country, full of beaming, hopeful young faces, and contrasted this with the stuffy old English Tory establishment.
They saw the artists and musicians with their Yes Scotland badges and they knew that voting independence was, well, cool. The UK — and therefore siding with the Tories — definitely was not.
There was hope. Change was in the air. Given this year’s General Election, we all know about how potent that simple concept of “change” can be.
The Yes Scotland campaign nailed that. A group-think swept over the youth. Setting aside the lunatic fringe who hectored pro-UK figures as “traitors”, the Yes movement managed to successfully portray itself as the positive force.
There were oodles of negativity from the pro-indy side, but it at least wore the clothes of the optimistic, can-do campaign.
It also owned the word Yes — on the campaign trail and the ballot paper. And people like to say Yes.
But when it came to the crunch, it still wasn’t enough.
Pro-indy leaders failed to give enough attention to the ocean of older, more experienced, and perhaps less naive voters, who needed more than a feeling.
There are legions of Scots voters who have lived through decades of election campaigns and false hope.
They heard Alex Salmond insisting an independent Scotland would keep using the Pound in a “currency union” with the UK, despite UK leaders firmly ruling this out.
And they may have thought something wasn’t quite right.
They heard Salmond cite absurdly low figures about how it cost £200million to set up an independent Scotland.
They heard emphatic Yes campaign statements about Scotland definitely staying in the EU, even though the decision plainly was not in gift of a new Scottish Government.
They heard emphatic claims about an indy Scotland being better able to afford pension and welfare payments than the rest of the UK.
They saw Yes campaign “newspapers” pushed through their doors with “£600 INDY BONUS!” on the front of one edition, then the promise of Scots being “£5,000 better off” on the next.
They heard Salmond and Sturgeon talk of “a once in a generation opportunity” — ramped up to “once in a lifetime”.
Time and again, they heard SNP leaders parading obvious uncertainties as certainties, and suggestions that while all the bad things would change, the good stuff would remain.
Too many people thought this didn’t add up. They smelled a rat. These were the voters that required not just hard-sell tactics, but a bit more honesty.
Mentions that independence would be hard work were very much the small print.
The headline message was clear: Just vote Yes, and all will be well. As we saw, this only took the Yes campaign so far, especially with older generations. Most people get to a point in life when they realise that few things come easily.
The big things, you have to work for. It was those voters that Salmond, Sturgeon and Co overlooked until it was too late.
They were swept away by their own hype, and deluded themselves that enough people would trust them.
Those younger, idealistic voters were in the bag.
A greater focus on unvarnished truths — how independence would be difficult, but the prize was worth it — may have alienated some.
But it may have persuaded an even greater number.
In the years after the referendum, SNP chiefs moved towards this kind of approach — the argument that independence may not be a quick win for the older generation, but it would be for their kids and grandkids.
The SNP’s 2018 ‘Growth Commission’ report acknowledged there would have to be restraint on spending in an independent Scotland starting with a huge deficit.
But in the past few years, the SNP seem to have retreated from this realism.
Yes chiefs cottoned onto the shortcomings at the very end of the 2014 campaign. But the die had been cast.
They chose the path of least resistance, misjudging large swathes of a country known for its work ethic.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Salmond and Sturgeon chose to offer Scots a magic pill, but found them to be wary.
Ten years on — if they are honest with themselves — they shouldn’t be surprised the majority refused to take it.
