The Independence Referendum finally gave us a voice

It seemed like every square, park and street corner was awash with yes and Better Together stalls, and campaigners for both sides were regularly out in force trying to convince members of the public to support their views on the future of the country.

But a year later the level of political engagement has not dwindled in Glasgow. Proof can be seen in this year’s general election turnout, with an additional 60,839 people turning out to vote compared to 2010.

Not only have people become more engaged in top level politics in Holyrood and Westminster, but locals more people are beginning to think about the issues which affect them, their families and their communities and are fighting for change.

In the West of Scotland, some of those involved in the referendum campaign have now become elected politicians – Natalie McGarry for example, who was a founding member of Women for Independence, and Mhairi Black, who rose to political stardom during the referendum campaign with her heart-felt speeches in support of independence.

Jordan Daly, a 20-year-old Glasgow University Student has also become more politically active since the referendum, founding the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign with fellow Cumbernauld resident Liam Stevenson.

The campaign calls for education of LGBT issues to become a statutory requirement in schools, which they hope will help to tackle homophobic abuse faced by young people.

Jordan said: “Me and Liam, we were both campaigning for a Yes vote through the referendum.

“We’re both based in Cumbernauld but it wasn’t until after the referendum that the two of us bumped into each other.

“When it was over, Liam had set up a group in Cumbernauld, Cumbernauld against poverty, and he was fundraising for foodbanks. I got involved with him at one of the fundraisers.

“We both clicked very well very quickly, and we both realised we had so much in common. We started a political partnership but it turned into a friendship.

“I ended up confiding in him about a lot of the things I experienced being gay, what my time was like at school.

“We were politically awakened because of the referendum and we thought ‘why don’t; we try to tackle this’. That’s how the TIE campaign was born basically.”

In six weeks the pair will be visiting the Scottish Parliament to present their argument after collecting hundreds of signatures from members of the public in support of their idea.

“The more we spoke on the phone, the more annoyed we got and we did some research about what the Government is doing to tackle the problems which wasn’t a lot.” Jordan explained.

“We took it into our own hands. That’s the referendum did for a lot of people I think. It made them politically aware, and all of a sudden they were out of the box and didn’t want to be put back in. That’s exactly what happened with us.”

Despite both of the TIE campaign founders supporting a Yes vote in the referendum, their campaign has now grown to include people who also wanted Scotland to stay as part of the UK.

“The campaign isn’t about independence, it has nothing to do with that and we’ve got supporters who were on both sides of the debate involved with TIE now.” explained Jordan.

In Anniesland, a group of mums were also becoming more politically active in the months leading up to the referendum but felt baffled and frustrated by the conflicting information they felt they were getting about important issues, such as the economy, currency, and reform and the NHS.

Lesley McLean and Alex Mackenzie, both 41-year-old full time mums decided they were fed up with the lack of facts and following the vote on September 18, decided to set up their own discussion group to strip down complex issues.

They formed the Bare Facts shortly after the referendum last year to “lift the lid on politics”.

The group, which started out with a handful of people discussing issues at a kitchen table, quickly evolved into an almost-monthly meetup group, joined by experts who explain topics in a factual format, opening themselves up to questions from the audience afterwards. Their last meeting, held at Cottiers in the West End, attracted around 200 people and they managed to raise cash for charity from entry fees.

Alex said: “It started really small scale. I invited a group of people to my house the day before the referendum, we were trying to get people together as some people felt like it was becoming quite polarised.

“I had people who were yes, or no or undecided asking questions so we wanted to get people together to talk about the issues affecting them.

“The other big issue was we felt there were a lot of mix messages in the media, and sensationalist statements from each of the campaigns, but factual or meaty information on a lot of the arguments was missing. It just wasn’t as easily accessible.”

Lesley said they came up with idea of asking experts to present facts to people, allowing them to make up their own minds about certain issues.

She said: “We had our own political leanings but we wanted to separate that out and help people make a choice.

“We were a mixed group of voters, and how we voted in the past at elections and how we voted in the past was also mixed.

“It was good to be able to come together to talk about issues we were all concerned about.

“The referendum was the first time we had something properly close to home that people felt they had a voice in.

“It is constantly brought up that you do feel separated [in Scotland] but during the build up to the referendum, a lot of people I knew got involved. A woman I know had never voted before, she was 35, but she registered to vote in the independence referendum. Things like that show how passionate people were about it, and we’re hoping our group can keep people engaged. “

The next Bare Facts event is due to take place at the CCA on Sauchiehall Street on October 21. Tickets costing £5 are available from the venue.

For more information about the TIE campaign visit www.facebook.com/tiecampaign