Independence Live

Getting the Yes message across to pensioners in a future #ScotRef is going to a be a key challenge that independence campaigners must overcome

NEWLY RESTORED #PensionersForIndependence is using digital data and old-fashioned flyers to deliver the case for Scottish independence to pensioners.

Peter Swain, from newly restored #PensionersForIndependence, told IndependenceLive.net at last weekend’s SNP conference that an effective way to connect with pensioners is “short, punchy flyers” and using “available data to try and identify areas … where there are lots of retired people”.

Swain said that he is using Mosaic data to identify areas where retired people live.

Analysis of the Brexit and Trump campaigns has made much of the increasing use of data to develop arguments and focus resources. Many believe that political campaigning is increasingly a process of gathering, analysis and acting on data.

Mosaic data can provided reasonably accurate data down to street level, Swain said.

He went on to say that the trick with flyers is that “you’ve got to grab the attention of the person, and get them to read it, between the front door and the bin”.

He also stated that the grassroots Yes campaign is going to have to print and deliver flyers as “no one else is going to do it for us”.

Pensioners For Independence argues that pensions will be safer with Scottish independence.

According to Swain, UK Conservative party minister Philip Hammond has said that it is extremely unlikely that the Westminster government will be able to keep the triple lock on pensions after about 2020, whereas Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have said that in an independent Scotland they would “maintain the triple lock indefinitely”.

Watch the full talk with Peter Swain from #PensionersForIndependence below.

Contact Pensioners For Independence at: pensionersforindependence@gmail.com

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Video Production: David McGowran, Siobhan Tolland, Mark McNaught

Music: Gavin Taylor

Post production: Mike Edwards

Picture courtesy of Independence Live