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***NEW DATE (1 March 2025) FOR NATIONAL CONVENTION ON SCOTLAND’S FUTURE***
11 November 2024
The IFS National Convention on Scotland’s Future, scheduled for 30 November, will now have its first meeting on SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2025.
The Memorial Service will be an opportunity for people throughout Scotland, whether or not they are present at St Giles’s Cathedral, to reflect on Alex Salmond’s life and achievements, and to say a proper farewell to him. We have no wish to be in any way a distraction from that, and postponing our own event is clearly the right thing to do.
During the next few days IFS will be in touch with all of those who registered to participate in the Convention, or who expressed an interest in it, to confirm the new arrangements.
The purpose of the gathering remains unchanged.
Because of space considerations at the venue, numbers will be restricted to 120, and IFS is encouraging those interested to apply as soon as possible. You can download the application form here: Application-Form-Individual-Participants-with-eligibility-criteria 1 March
1 November 2024
The Management Committee, on the recommendation of the National Convention Project Planning Team and after some thought, has decided to postpone the Convention meeting planned for St Andrew’s Day. The decision was taken in view of the potential for Alex Salmond’s Memorial event also to be taking place on that date.
INAUGURAL MEETING OF OUR CONVENTION
Work to establish a Convention for Scotland’s Future is now under way, with its first meeting planned to take place on St. Andrew’s Day, Saturday 30 November 2024 at the Greyfriars Charteris Centre in Edinburgh.
Following initial Planning Assemblies held in Stirling in February 2024 and online in June 2024, attended by representatives of IFS member organisations, a seven-person Convention Project Planning Team has been put in place to make arrangements for this inaugural event.
Mission Statement
The following draft mission statement outlines the proposed aims of our Convention:
“Our aim is to provide a public forum which unites the whole of society with regular discussion and open debate, free from party politics, on matters of critical importance to the nation, and with a clear focus on Scotland’s future and the achievement of meaningful self-determination.”
Those taking part in the Convention will be invited to consider this draft, with a view to arriving at a final version by the close of the inaugural meeting.
Programme for the Inaugural Meeting
The programme, current at 20 September, can be found here.
The main topics are:
Convention Participants
We are planning for there to be 120 participants in our Convention, comprising 70 individuals from around Scotland and 50 representatives of civil organisations with a similar geographical spread. There will also be some room for observers to attend. No elected politicians will be involved at this stage. Participants will be welcome at the Convention whatever view they may currently hold on the question of self-determination for Scotland.
Individual Members – current thinking
The 70 individual members of our National Convention will comprise
To be eligible, individual members must be aged 16 or over, be a permanent resident in Scotland and have lived in Scotland for more than five years.
Civil Organisations – current thinking
To be eligible to be invited to our Convention, a civil organisation must be headquartered in Scotland. Since many national and professional bodies already have their voices heard, the majority of those invited will be local organisations. The envisaged mix is:
For the 30 November meeting of the Convention, the aim will be for a significant proportion of the organisations to reflect the three broad topics of the day – Modern Governance, Land Reform and Taxation, and Energy.
Further updates on progress will be available on this page and through our network of member organisations.
