Referendum result is still a disappointment

Margaret was in charge of the Rutherglen, Cambuslang and Blantyre ‘ Yes’ campaign.

Looking back , she says: “We did a tremendous amount of work, and my team, I can’t thanks them enough. Even though I was the lead person, we had some amazing activists and we were out there for 16 weeks working hard every day and every night for a Yes vote.

“Obviously we were disappointed and we’re still disappointed in the result but I don’t think we as a team could have done any more than we did.

“People keep going back to what Alex Salmond said about it being a once in a generation, but again that’s not up to Alex Salmond, it’s not up to Nicola Sturgeon or me or any of the other SNP MP’s or MSP’s, it’s up to the people of Scotland and they’ve become a lot more political since the referendum.

“The number of people who tell me they tune into the BBC parliament channel I find is incredible, they have got it on constantly and it can only be good that people are more engaged in politics and I think there’s a lot of young children talking about it, primary sevens and in secondary schools.

“From a local point of view, invariably for council elections you would have low turnouts and I think that will change now. Going forward people will realise if they want their voice heard at a regional or national level, they need to go out and vote.

“Maybe we need to look at other countries that you have to go out and vote, Like Australia and if you want to spoil your ballot paper, that would be your prerogative. It’s good to get people into that state of mind where they’re going out to vote.”

When asked if she thinks she’ll be joined by an SNP MSP as well next year, she says: “That would be absolutely brilliant and I think the majority is a lot less than what it was for the general election.”