‘YOUNG Scots for Independence has always been a well-oiled campaign machine,” says Erin Mwembo, YSI convenor and a third-year economics student at the University of Glasgow.
Members of the SNP’s official youth wing elected Mwembo as their convenor last year. An SNP member and activist since 2015 at her high school in East Lothian, she ran for the role to “bring in some energy coming out of Covid”.
As with other pro-indy youth groups and student societies across Scotland, the pandemic created a gap in leadership Mwembo hopes to fill by thinking “a little bit outside the box”.
Her tenure so far has focused on tackling misinformation and creating an environment of respect surrounding the Gender Recognition Reform Bill which MPs at Westminster blocked in January this year.
Mwembo says many in her organisation, particularly non-binary people, “don’t feel represented by media discourse”. Unlike many other political commentators, she has actively avoided Twitter during the debate as she feels it’s not a good place for civil discussions and only “stokes hate”.
After a year of re-organisation post-Covid, Mwembo’s YSI has played an active part in SNP policymaking.
The organisation has historically had a large hand in shaping SNP manifestoes at conference.
Previous YSI-led policies include sexual harassment legislation, the introduction of a school leavers toolkit, and mental health campaigning – all from a team of young volunteers in conversation with MSPs.
Leading youth campaigns around Scotland, Mwembo said the main issues resonating with Scots under the age of 30 are “climate change, rent controls, cost of living, concern over the Tories, and concerns over LGBT rights and women’s rights, including abortion”.
A big question is: “what do we want our independent Scotland to look like?” Mwembo suggests a progressive model. “Localism” in decision-making, a sovereign wealth fund on renewable energy and a “completely reformed tax system” are all areas she argues pro-indy parties should investigate.
After meeting with social democrats across Europe, Mwembo concluded the UK political spectrum is “the rightest of the right”.
She added that the Nordic countries “have done a lot of things right and have very successful economies”. On youth politics, Mwembo said that under the SNP’s tenure young people in Scotland have been lucky, especially with policies such as free tuition.
“Young people feel grateful for what we have in Scotland, especially in comparison to my friends who come from England to university here,” she said.
Mwembo compared the set-up at Holyrood where the “amount of impact a young person can have is massive” to Westminster where “nobody cares”—citing a recent campaign to ban up-skirting which Tory MPs filibustered out of Parliament.
Mwembo finished our interview with a message for Scotland’s young people: “The Scottish Government does listen to young people’s voices.
“If there’s something you want to change or if you want to get involved, do it, because you can make a change – that’s something really powerful that we’re fortunate to have in our country.”
