Gazing upon the allegations of infighting and charges of political complacency in the newspapers, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Yes campaign had already won the vote. This is of course not the case, but continued finger-pointing and anonymous briefings in the broadsheet and tabloid press is undoubtedly doing huge damage to the No campaign’s final fight to save the Union.
Too much is at stake for those of us who believe we are better together to let these allegations derail the campaign. Traditionally, these kinds of briefings only surface once a campaign has been proven to have failed, not before. The time for self-reflection must come only once the polls have closed and the votes have been counted, pre-judging the results will only erode confidence and play into the narrative developed by Alex Salmond that the No campaign is panicking.
We are told that when it comes to the referendum vote on Thursday, there is ‘nothing more important than the future of the UK and the future of Scotland.’ Yet why are our elected officials continuing to brief against each other? It is time for MPs to take to social media, including Twitter and Facebook to make their case heard, instead of indulging in an unprofessional smear campaign against the Prime Minister.
Instant Twitter analysis shows that many of our elected officials are far from engaged in this historic debate. Data obtained by Hotwire/Listening Post revealed that of the 327 MPs who have tweeted in the last 30 days, 109 (33%) have not tweeted about the Scottish Referendum. A further 80 (24%) have tweeted about it 3 times or less, with 108 (33%) tweeting about it 5 times or less and Only 110 (34%) have tweeted about it more than 5 times.
The job of our elected officials is to move forward with a positive vision and message for a strong, more prosperous Scotland. This can only be achieved if each and every elected official makes their voices heard online.
By Steven George-Hilley, director of technology, Parliament Street
