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Scottish independence referendum, 2014

Introduction
Pro-independence flags
Flags of independence opponents
2019 Yes flag
Second independence referendum flags

Introduction

The contributions below describe flags used in the campaign preceding the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
Tomislav Todorovic, 30 January 2018

The referendum was authorized by the Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013 (of
November 14) (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2013/14/contents) and was held on September 18, 2014.

The campaigns were labeled as "Better together" opting for "No" launched on June 1, 2012 adopting the slogan "No Thanks" in June 2014 and the "Yes Scotland" opting for "Yes", launched on May 25, 2012. The "No" campaign was an alliance of pro-union political parties in Scotland, Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and Scottish Liberal Democrats, while
the "Yes" campaign was an alliance of the governing Scottish National Party, Solidarity, the Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Green Party.

Additionally, around the same on June 23, 2016 there was another vote, this time the so-called "2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum" which faced the UK's status regarding the EU with the final result being the UK leaving the EU even though Scotland's final results were to remain within the Union. Even though Scotland's referendum was two years before, during the 2016 UK's referendum the Pro Independence flags were used alongside pro EU flags such as the one we featured at Scottish/European flag as seen at https://www.instagram.com/p/DOvF17-DBnl. Additionally, further protests, marches and rallies took place even after not only the 2014 referendum, but also the 2016 referendum, still pushed for a Scottish independence.

Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

Pro-independence flags

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018
based on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yes_Scotland_logo.svg

The main pro-independence symbol in the campaign was the word Yes, the letters conjoined into a single shape. It is derived from the logo of Yes Scotland, the designated organization campaigning for independence, which was founded in accordance with the legislation regulating the referendum [1]. The emblem was sometimes depicted in white on blue flags (shade as in the flag of Scotland), but these were rarely seen [2, 3, 4, 5, 6], while the hand-held posters with the same design were used much more, as well as the circular stickers which were applied to different items, including the Scottish flag.
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

Perhaps the most frequently used pro-independence flags were those with a voided *Yes* logo over the Scottish saltire, the inscription being created by an outline in black or light gray [7]. The flags seem to have been used equally frequently, often together [8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15].
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

Rarely, flags with Yes logo over the Scottish saltire had a dark blue field, closer to that of the Union Jack, or more likely, that of the European Union flag. The logo on them was usually in gold colour and fimbriated of the field [16, 17, 18].
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

The flag with white Yes logo in left-from center canton was even less frequently seen - its only known photo is from Edinburgh, dated on 2013-09-21 [19]. (On the photo, it looks as if flown with the sinister hoist, without any clue whether it is obverse or reverse, so the canton bearing the logo cannot be described either as "hoist" or as "fly".)
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

On the flags with standard blue field, the Yes logo was sometimes black and placed over the saltire. They usually looked like having been professionally manufactured [20, 21, 22], but there are also examples where the logo looked as if painted over the flag by amateurs - not quite regular, and paint having faded very quickly, looking gray and transparent [23].
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

Another flag with a single recorded appearance was photographed in Glasgow on 2014-09-13 [24]. There, the Yes logo was smaller than usual, completely within the saltire, and voided, with a blue outline in darker shade than the flag field. When zoomed in, the photo reveals that the logo was most likely drawn by felt-tip pen - the outline has many irregularities indicating that, although the shape was actually drawn quite correctly.
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

Another rarely seen flag has the large Yes logo placed over the saltire, in a dark blue colour and with a double fimbriation, wide inner one in white and narrow outer one in the same dark shade of blue: The only two photos of this flag which are currently available [25, 26] most likely display the same flag, since not only the architectural details (windows, facade decorations) look the same, but the flag position looks so as well. The fact that one photo illustrates an article about Glasgow [25], while the other is explicitly stated to have been taken in Edinburgh [26], does not matter much, since there is no mention in the first case of the place where the photo was made [25], so it may have been chosen simply as a good illustration.
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

Another flag with a single recorded appearance was photographed in Edinburgh on 2014-09-11 [27]. The logo, its size and position matching those on the previously described flag, is white here, with a red outline.
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 28 April 2018

The 'Yes' logo was used both in white color on blue field, and vice versa, but the first of these combinations was almost exclusively used on the flags. The only recorded appearance of the white flag with blue logo was in August 2014, when it was attached to the Duke of Wellington's monument in Glasgow [41, 42, 43]. In addition, a traffic cone, painted blue with white 'Yes' logo, was put on the Duke's head instead of a hat, and a smaller yellow cone was attached to the horse's forehead in order to "transform" it into an unicorn.
Tomislav Todorovic, 28 April 2018

Prior to August 2014, the flag was also seen on 2013-09-21, during the
independence rally in Edinburgh [44, 45].
Tomislav Todorovic, 19 November 2019

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

Another rarely used saltire flag with the 'Yes' logo was photographed in Edinburgh during the night after the referendum, 18/19 September 2014 [61]. It bore a small logo in gold, fitting nearly completely into the saltire, only slightly entering the dark blue field in three places.
Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

The word 'Yes' sometimes appeared on the saltire flags as an inscription i.e. all letters separate. Such a flag was photographed in Glasgow on 2014-09-14 [62]. The inscription in black was placed in the center of the saltire, only slightly covering the tips of the hoist and fly cantons; the field was in a light shade of blue, lighter than on the flag of Scotland.
Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

Another flag with the inscription 'Yes' was seen in Glasgow on 2014-09-17 [63]. There, all letters were uppercase, in black color and arranged diagonally, ascending along the bottom hoist and top fly arms of the saltire, all on a dark blue field. The text height was a bit greater than the width of the saltire.
Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

The only currently known flag with the inscription 'Yes' on a plain field was photographed in Edinburgh on 2013-09-21 [64]. The text was in black and the field in purple/violet, possibly chosen as the color of the Scottish thistle flower badge. The charge actually looked as if being halfway between the 'Yes' logo and the inscription, the letters being closer to each other than in the proper text, still not being conjoined.
Tomislav Todorovic, 15 February 2026

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 16 February 2026

On the pro-independence flags, the word 'Yes' was sometimes replaced with its Scots counterpart 'Aye'. It may have been inscribed in the center of the saltire, only slightly entering the blue field in three places. Such a flag was photographed in Glasgow on 2014-09-13 [65]. Another currently known photo [66] seems to date from the same period, although the exact date and place of making are currently not known.
Tomislav Todorovic, 16 February 2026

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 16 February 2026

Another flag with the inscription 'Aye' was also seen in Glasgow, on 2014-09-17 [67]. There, all letters were uppercase and voided, created by a black outline and very large, occupying much of the flag field.
Tomislav Todorovic, 16 February 2026

A flag featuring an inner circle with the word "YES" in black bold lettering in the middle and below a closed fist in white, with an additional black circle and an additional slogan "Something Inside So Strong", "I'm still" on top and "HOPE OVER FEAR" below in black is seen at https://www.alamy.com/people-waving-saltire

Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

A "YES" variant with differet colors over a Scotland flag, source: https://www.facebook.com/people
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

Second independence referendum flags

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

A "YES INDY" variant over a Scotland flag, source: https://www.sinpermiso.info/
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

A conjoined flag together with other independentist movements, source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019
Esteban Rivera,, 10 February 2026

images located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

AOUB All Under One Banner. Source: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news
Logo source: https://www.facebook.com/AllUnderOneBanner
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

1320 flag with the Royal Arms of Scotland, a clear reference to the world's first documented declaration of independence, the Declaration of Arbroath on April 6, 1320.
Source: https://x.com/AUOBNOW/status/1576179564115791873 at 0:10 s.
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

"Unchain the unicorn" slogan flag, a popular slogan and design for the Scottish independence movement, which features Scotland's national animal (the unicorn) freed from the chains it traditionally wears on the Royal Coat of Arms.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

"AYE" (Scottish dialect "YES") flag.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news (picture taken in 2018)
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026
based on photo

"Freedom" flag in tartan design pattern "inspired by the ancient saltire (St. Andrew's Cross), the Declaration of Arbroath and the lion rampant" (Royal Coat of Arms) and includes one of the most cited passage from the Latin original which reads "...for, as long as a hundred of us remain alive..." displayed on the walls of the National Museum of Scotland (picture taken in 2018).
Source: https://thefreedomflag.scot
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

"Wings over Scotland" logo flag.
Source: https://wingsoverscotland.com
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

"Scotland the brave" song excerpt on flag.
Source: https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/07/all-under-one-banner-edinburgh
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

"End London Rule" flag.
Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/news
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

image located by Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

"End The Union" flag.
Source: https://www.scotsman.com/news
Esteban Rivera, 10 February 2026

Flags of independence opponents

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 19 November 2019

The independence opponents seem to have used much fewer flags made specifically for the campaign than the independence supporters, considering that there have been much fewer online photos of their flags. The designated organization campaigning against the independence, named Better Together, seems not to have used its name and logo on the flags, not having used it much elsewhere either, for as early as in June 2012, it adopted a No Thanks branding [28, 29], the words being written in two rows, the upper larger than the lower so that both rows occupy the same length; all letters were upper case and O was actually a disc "pierced" with an check mark in shape of an irregular letter X. The words appeared on a white disc, placed on a background in same color as the text. Different colors were used, but the only known example of the flag used red [29]. In contrast, the design was extensively used on the posters, especially the hand-held ones which countered those used by the Yes Scotland campaign.
Tomislav Todorovic, 5 February 2018

In the meantime, more online photos of these flags were discovered, both from the same event [46, 47] and from several others [48, 49, 50, 51]. All of them display hand-held flags, with the ratio of about 3:4. The disc may actually be a little smaller that depicted here and shifted towards the top edge, with the inscription in tiny white letters which contains the information about the flag manufacturer and ordering party (the latter being identified as the Better Together organization); as the text is not completely legible in the available sources (when displaying the image only in the browser, only parts of the text, including the above information, can be clearly read), and is certainly not the integral part of the design (seems to never appear in the hand-held and other posters which repeat it), it was omitted from this reconstruction of the flag.

The above seems to apply to the hand-held flags only, for it is seen only in their photos, more of which also exist [52, 53, 54]. The only photo of a full-size flag currently available online [55] reveals a centered disc and no inscription below, as can be seen when displaying the image only in the browser and maximum zooming.
Tomislav Todorovic, 19 November 2019

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 30 December 2019

Another flag with the *No Thanks* logo employed blue colour instead of red; the shade was very dark, looking almost black in some photos [56, 57, 58]. All currently known photos display hand-held flags, the ratio being about 3:4. As with the flags which employed red colour, the same remarks about the disc size and position and the inscription beneath it apply here. While no photos of full-size flags are currently known, those details were absent from the hand-held and other posters with this design variant as well, which is why they are omitted from the flag reconstruction here again.
Tomislav Todorovic, 30 December 2019

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 5 February 2018

The Union Jack was sometimes defaced with the word NO, in a manner similar to the use of word Yes for defacing the Scottish flag. One variant used the word in white, in center of the cross of St George; the ratio was1:2, as visible from the saltire of St Patrick. There seem to have been very few copies of this flag: all the photos currently found online were taken in Edinburgh in September 2014 and seem to show the same copy [30, 31, 32].

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 5 February 2018

A more frequently used variant was less oblong, the ratio having been 3:5, or sometimes 5:8, a ratio frequently used by flag manufacturers, although totally unofficial. The word NO was much larger there and in a much more condensed typeface, in a light grayish-blue colour; the shade varied a bit and so did the position of the text, which was centered vertically and off-centre horizontally, closer to the fly, but not always in the same position [33, 34, 35, 36].

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 5 February 2018

A variantA variant of the above design, with a single appearance recorded online, has had the text in very dark grey, almost black [37].

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 6 February 2018

The blue Union Jack has otherwise been sold online with the sport (mainly soccer) fans as targeted buyers, was also offered to the opponents of Scottish independence some time before the referendum, suggesting that the combination of the UK design and Scottish colours would make a good way for them to express their attitude. The online shops often offered the flag in dark blue of the UK national flag [38], but the only recorded example of its use [39, 40] showed lighter shade of blue, as in the flag of Scotland. The flag user was claimed by the sources [39, 40] to be a participant of the pro-independence rally seen further behind, but his stance, as well as the fact that he did not make part of the crowd, suggested the opposite and so did his flag, whose design was not the one to be likely used by the independence supporters.
Tomislav Todorovic, 6 February 2018

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 8 May 2022

Very rarely, the word *NO* appeared on the flag of Scotland. A small handheld flag with such design was photographed in a pub (location unknown) several days before the referendum [59]; the shade of blue was the lighter shade typically used in Scottish flags and the inscription was black.
On the very day of the referendum, two flags with a much darker field and a different typeface were photographed in Glasgow [60]. Their ratios seem to have differed, but unfortunately, they were too far away from the focus (near the edge of the photo) to allow the viewer to tell whether it was just the distortion due to the characteristics of the lens, or a real difference
Tomislav Todorovic, 8 May 2022

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 17 February 2026

Word 'NO' was sometimes replaced with its Scots counterpart 'NAW', much like the word 'Yes' having been replaced with 'Aye' on the pro-independence flags. The Union Jack defaced with such an inscription in black was used in Edinburgh on 2014-09-13 [68]. The flag seems not to have matched the official drawing specifications (might have been the one-of-the-kind and/or hand-made) - the cross and saltires seem to have been too narrow and the ratio seems not to have matched any of those in official use, although 5:8, non-standard but frequently used by the flag manufacturers, looks like a good match, which is why it was used in the presented image as well, although the cross and saltires are shown with their official widths here.
Tomislav Todorovic, 17 February 2026

2019 Yes flag

image located by Esteban Rivera, 4 February 2022

A new “Yes” flag in Scotland.
The blue flag with a big “Yes” inscription in the centre was the flag of Yes Scotland at the 2014 referendum and is still seen at demonstrations in favour of independence. There is now a new “Yes” flag of which I have seen a few examples. Yes Scotland dissolved itself after the referendum, and this one seems to be sponsored by the S.N.P. It is a white flag, with “Yes” in plain capital letters, each letter being formed of blocks of different colours: red, blue, green and orange. I suppose this may be trying to represent political diversity.
Kenneth Fraser, 2 November 2019