Progress Scotland is a pro- Scottish independence think tank, launched in February 2019. Founded by the former deputy leader of the Scottish National Party, Angus Robertson and former Director of

Ipsos Mori Ipsos MORI was the name of a market research company based in London, England which is now known as Ipsos and still continues as the UK arm of the global Ipsos group. It was formed by a merger of Ipsos UK and MORI in October 2005. The company ...

, Mark Diffley. The organisation commissions research,

opinion polling An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

and

focus groups A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

with the goal of strategising towards a campaign for Scottish independence.

Scottish First Minister The first minister of Scotland ( sco, heid meinister o Scotland; gd, prìomh mhinistear na h-Alba ) is the head of the Scottish Government and keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The first minister chairs ...

Nicola Sturgeon has endorsed Progress Scotland, describing it as "brilliant".

History

Progress Scotland was set up by Angus Robertson, after he lost his parliamentary seat at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

at the 2017 general election, in conjunction with Mark Diffney, the former director of the market research company

. The think tank's main focus is on Scots who voted against independence in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, but who have changed their minds, or have considered changing their minds - with a view to aiding a pro-independence victory in any future referendum. One of the central arguments put forward by

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Places ...

for setting up Progress Scotland, is his perception that the pro-independence campaign of 2014 had failed to evolve in terms of its arguments and strategy. In an interview, he said: "What is the point in simply re-running the question in the hope that just because one speaks a bit louder or knocks at the front door a bit louder that one’s going to get the ball across the line?”

Funding

Progress Scotland claims to be funded through donations and public subscriptions, though its reserves or the identity of large donors is not known.

References

{{Reflist Politics of Scotland Think tanks

History

Funding

See also

References