Convener of City of Stirling SNP, Gerry McLaughlin says:
“Over the last month there has been a real upsurge in membership of the Branch, There is a press release below which gives a figure of 170 new members in the constituency over the last few weeks.
Of that number, approximately 80 of them are in our Branch. Members who attended our monthly Zoom meetings know that at each meeting we give the current membership of our Branch. Over the last 12 months, it has remained approximately in line with the previous 5 years. Each month some people leave but approximately the same number of new people join.
That changed the day that Nicola gave her evidence to the Holyrood Committee, the following days were marked with a steep increase in membership.
That stabilised at the beginning of last week. If you want to know our actual new membership level,then please come along to the next Branch meeting, it will as usual be highlighted then.
I should say that the figure of 80, is a net figure, it is actual growth in membership. Contained within the figures available there are people who have left the Branch during this period, so the actual number of new members is in all probability higher.
I was intending to stop at that and then run with the press release on membership for the CA.
However, as we all know in the last few days, events have happened, we have a new Party that has entered the fight for Scottish Independence.
It is early days and it is difficult to judge nationally if this idea will help or hinder our cause.
I do know given the nature of the media, that they will do their best to use whatever they can to deflect the coverage away from the benefits of independence and focus on personal matters.
Here locally we will remain focused on getting our excellent candidate Evelyn Tweed elected in May. The first phase of our campaign is now complete.
We as a Branch have delivered 16,000 of the Survey leaflets and through our Facebook and other social media accounts, we are reaching on average 17,000 contacts with our policy messages.
So I would like to register a big thank you to those involved, we had a lot of new faces stepping forward to help this time and it made an amazing difference.
There are more actions coming up in the coming weeks, so if you can, when asked by Mel, please come forward and help.
So, safe and hopefully you can join me at the April Branch meeting where there will be ample opportunity to discuss the current issues.”
PRESS RELEASE
More than 170 local people have joined the Scottish National Party since First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gave her account at Holyrood’s Harassment Inquiry.
More than 60% of the new member intake are women.
Local SNP politicians have welcomed those who have recently joined the Party, ahead of the crucial 2021 Holyrood election.
Stirling MP Alyn Smith said:
“Firstly, I’d like to welcome our 170-and-rising new members, who join the more-than 10,000 new members country-wide who have come to the SNP in recent weeks. The SNP truly is the biggest and best Party in town.
“The past year has seen the First Minister and the SNP government demonstrate tremendous leadership during what has been the most difficult time for us all. It’s clear that the SNP’s actions in government and our positive message for Scotland has been a rallying call to so many to come to our cause.
“This could not have happened at a more crucial time. May’s election is the most important Scotland has ever faced. Our future as an independent European nation is on the ballot.
“Across the Stirling area, we are hoping to elect Evelyn Tweed and re-elect Keith Brown as our local MSPs to contribute to an SNP/pro-independence majority at Holyrood, which will ensure the people of Scotland have a say over our own future.
“Scotland’s future must be Scotland’s choice.”