‘YES’ Lochgelly are bringing the Depute First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, to speak at a public meeting in Lochgelly. The local group has booked the Theatre at the Centre, which holds 400, and as entry is free it is a case of first come, first served. They are hoping for a big turnout as the Referendum vote will only be a month away by the time of the event. ‘Yes’ Lochgelly members have been really busy in the town and in Cardenden and getting encouraging results from their canvassing showing, they claim, a majority support in Labour areas for Independence. ‘Yes’ Lochgelly organiser, Conor Watt, from Minto Street, said, “We have had a fantastic response from Lochgelly locals keen to help in campaigning for a Yes vote on September 18th.

“Many are Labour voters who do not agree with the Party line of we are Better Together….clearly not when we have food banks opening up here and all over Fife. “Our volunteers are just that unlike the Tory backed ‘No’ campaign who we understand have paid students to come up from Cambridge and other places to spend a paid holiday trying to convince us to vote to stay in the UK.” Conor continued, “There are many hundreds of folk in Lochgelly….mainly young, who have never voted yet want to vote in this vital Referendum. “Unfortunately, most have never registered and are not on the voters roll and will not be allowed a vote. Can I appeal to all young folk to get down to the Library or go on line at Fife Direct and apply to register.

“This vote is about your future and I know many many young folk say voting makes no difference and while I agree that can be true in normal Party elections it isn’t true in the Referendum.

“It’s not about voting Labour or SNP or Green it’s about voting whether Scotland wants to be able to build a fairer, prosperous society we are comfortable with, or carry on in the same depressing system” Nicola Sturgeon said, “Scotland is a very wealthy country – richer per head than France, Japan and the UK as a whole – but too many people don’t feel the benefits of it.

“In places like Lochgelly and across the country, too many people live in poverty – and with Westminster’s cuts agenda continuing to bite the situation would only get worse with a ‘No’ vote. That is why a ‘Yes’ vote in September is so important. A ‘No’ vote would guarantee years of yet more austerity from the Westminster parties. Figures have shown that as many as 100,000 more children in Scotland could be pushed into poverty by 2020.

“But with the full powers of independence we can take a different path –transforming childcare benefiting thousands of children and ensuring we have a welfare state which supports people in need and is a springboard to a better life.”