Scottish independence: more phoney little Yes groups wanting to register with the Electoral Commission will only convince Scots that the Nationalists are a bunch of cheats who cannot be trusted to conduct a fair independence process, they are just vile people

Dear All

It seems that there is a string of pro-independence groups which appear to have one thing in common.

Run and operated by people in the Scottish National Party.

These are seen by many as phoney little groups, recently an ex Yes Scotland employee outed the worse kept secret in politics, Yes Scotland is an SNP front.

Run by the SNP, staffed by the SNP for the benefit of the SNP.

Now more little groups are coming along, they too are connected to the SNP which is putting pressure on referendum watchdogs to block their registration.

So, why are there so many groups?

They are mostly run by SNP members, well there is an official spending limit.

One way round that is to set up a group, register with the Electoral Commission and circumvent the rules.

Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond putting a stop to this, Scotland unpopular Deputy First Minster Nicola Sturgeon putting a stop to this, anyone in the Scottish National Party speaking out?

No, No and No!

Under the referendum rules, permitted participants are allowed to spend up to £150,000 campaigning in the final 16 weeks before the vote.

And all these groups will all be saying the exact same message, the public want a fair contest, and they will certainly punish cheats if they think they are being used.

The permitted participant cash does not count towards ­total of Yes Scotland.

And it should, they have a limit of £1.5 million to spend.

But that limit is provided they and other Yes Groups don’t work together or co-ordinate their activity.

Three other pro-Yes groups are either in the process of registering or have signalled their intention to apply to the Electoral Commission.

One of the new ones is Christians for independence, their convener is Dave Thmopson, who is he?

He is an SNP MSP.

It is apparent that there will not be a level playing field.

Tory MSP John Lamont said:

"We cannot have the situation where organisations are being set up simply to break the rules and spend money over and above the limits set for the campaigns. The Yes camp cannot credibly claim that they are not working with groups like Business for Scotland.

"The money that is being spent must come off the Yes Scotland total."

Business for Scotland!

Outed as having SNP members at its core!

Lamont added:

"Now that groups are ­registering as permitted participants in the referendum, we have to have confidence that the rules are being followed."

Next up to look at is the Scottish Independence Convention is chaired by actress Elaine C Smith.

She is on the board of Yes Scotland and she also goes to SNP events.

Also part of the Scottish Independence Convention is Shona McAlpine, she works for Muslim list SNP MSP Humza Yousaf.

Other groups, Women for Independence, Scots Asians for Yes, Yes LGBT, Farmers for Yes, Labour for Independence and the Scottish Independence Convention, all have SNP connected to them.

However, Yes Scotland stressed it was "not an umbrella organisation in the strict sense".

Their Yes branches are more or less SNP branches campaigning under another name.

In a gaffe, they have since confirmed:

"We have effectively been representing other campaigners since the campaign has properly begun."

Yes Scotland also helped set up a number of groups, including Academics for Yes, Polish for Yes and Crofting for Yes.

Better Together has not allowed its local or interest groups to have their own bank accounts in a bid to comply with Electoral Commission rules.

It seems that they are willing to play fair even in the face of what some will see as electoral abuse, of course election fraud isn’t new in the Scottish National Party, one SNP Cllr Alex MacLeod was recently convicted of being an election cheat, and he worked for Alex Salmond in his office.

An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said:

"The rules on campaigning at the Scottish Independence Referendum during the referendum period between May 30 and September 18 are clearly set out in law. It's the responsibility of campaigners to comply with the rules.

"We're already working with those who have registered as permitted participants and other campaigners to help them understand and follow the campaigning rules and published clear guidance for campaigners last December. The Electoral Commission's priority is to ensure that voters have confidence in the referendum outcome and we are ready to deal appropriately with any breach of the rules."

It is clear that Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon have no intention of stopping what is going on with their members which strangely all seems co-ordinated.

That being the case, Better Together might see many Pro Uk Groups register, the idea as I previously blogged about having little phoney groups was a bad idea.

Yet again, stupidity have won over from common sense were the SNP are concerned.

The revelations of phoney little Yes/SNP groups aren’t new; but are a remarkable low brow tactic which will ultimately blow up in the faces of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

No one likes cheats.

I just think the SNP leadership of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon is completely lacking in integrity.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University