Independence Forum Scotland and Yes United For Independence joined forces on Saturday 14 March to organise a Spring Conference on Scotland’s Future, which took place at the iconic Òran Mòr in Glasgow on Saturday 14 March 2026. Its aims were simple:
- To re-energise the YES movement.
- To plant seeds that will yield fruit in coming months and years.
- To make contact with as wide a demographic as possible.
- In short, to ‘put the band back together’ and recapture the spirit of 2014.
The day was divided into two sections. The first was a daytime event, ‘The Art of Statehood’, along the lines of last year’s three IFS Conventions. We utilised World Café format to discuss various aspects of three topics – Scotland’s Energy, Scotland’s Economy and Scotland & Europe – and the opportunities of Scottish independence with regard to them all.
You can read the discussion notes here:
We also had key contributions from Lesley Riddoch, who opened the event with an exploration of the lessons an independent Scotland might draw from the Nordic countries, and Phil Boswell, who began the afternoon for us by picking up on some of the themes our World Cafe participants had discussed in the morning session.
The daytime event finished on a high note with a truly exceptional speech from Jim Sillars, former MP, author and Yes United Trustee, whose inspiring, challenging and motivating words brought the audience to its feet.
All of these speeches, together with other parts of the daytime event, were captured by Independence Live, and have been posted to the Yes United YouTube channel. Here are links to each of them:
In the evening, we held a special music and poetry event organised in partnership with Artists For Scottish Independence. The roster included musical performers Eddi Reader & John Douglas, The Countess of Fife, Bobby Bluebell, Mellow Party, Tommy Mackay, King of Birds and Sulidae, and there were spoken word contributions from author Alan Bissett and poets Linda Jackson, Allan Gaw, Jen Dunn, Donna Matthew and Graham Fulton.
It was a splendid evening’s entertainment, with a strong pro-indy message, that will linger in the memory of those who attended and took part for a very long time. Here’s a link to Independence Live’s film of it. The action begins about 7 minutes and 20 seconds in!