|
Better Together was the principal organisation that represented parties, organisations, and individuals campaigning for a ''No'' vote in the Scottish independence referendum, 2014. It was established in 2012 with support of the three main unionist political parties in Scotland: Scottish Labour, the Scottish Conservative Party, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats. The principal organisation campaigning for a Yes vote was Yes Scotland. ==History== Alistair Darling MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Gordon Brown, officially launched the campaign on 25 June 2012 at Edinburgh Napier University. Darling was a Director and the Chairman of the campaign alongside: Conservative MSP David McLetchie (died August 2013); Craig Harrow, convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats; and Labour MSPs Richard Baker and Jackie Baillie. The campaign was officially registered as Better Together 2012 Limited and its registered office was located in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh. On 11 November 2013, Nosheena Mobarik, who was formerly on the Chair for CBI Scotland, was appointed as a Director of Better Together. Better Together's Campaign Director was Labour activist Blair McDougall, who was a special adviser to Ian McCartney (2004-2007) and James Purnell (2007-2008) during the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He was national director of the Labour Party's ''Movement for Change'' organisation from 2011 and also ran David Miliband's campaign for the Labour Party leadership before joining Better Together. Former Scottish Government adviser and Strathclyde Police press chief Rob Shorthouse is Director of Communications, Kate Watson the Director of Operations, and Gordon Aikman the Director of Research. Although the UK Independence Party (UKIP) also favoured Scotland remaining within the United Kingdom, Better Together has refused to work with them on the grounds that "they are not a Scottish party".〔 UKIP in return accused Better Together of being "petty and small minded". In May 2013, Scottish Labour launched its own campaign called United with Labour. Its co-ordinator, Labour MP Anas Sarwar, stated that the Labour movement had a different vision of Scotland's future from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, but that they would continue to work with Better Together.〔 Darling stated in May 2013 that his side needs to "win well" in order to prevent another independence referendum within just a few years, to head off calls for another poll, the so-called "neverendum". He contrasted his campaign's position with that of Yes Scotland, saying they had to win only "by one vote" to achieve their ultimate aim. Although Darling did not say what percentage of the vote "win well" would entail, his colleagues had earlier said that the Yes vote would need to be pushed under 40% in order to answer the independence question for "a generation". In June 2014, Better Together adopted the slogan "No Thanks" in its campaign publicity.〔 BBC political correspondent Iain Watson commented that "Better Together" had been intended to sound positive, but it was felt that it lacked meaning.〔 "No Thanks" was adopted after testing with focus groups, although Better Together remained the formal name of the campaign group itself. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Better Together (campaign)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|