that represents "significant advance for the people of Scotland", but reaffirmed the SSP's commitment to socialism. As part of the party's campaign for independence, it held dozens of public meetings across Scotland with a range of speakers. The party's final meeting, scheduled to take place in Drumchapel Community Centre, was cancelled after unionist protests. In the aftermath, Richie Venton said: "Those demonstrating may have learned that their support for a Westminster regime was impoverishing themselves and their communities. But what they should know is we shall continue to fight against austerity and the tyranny of the Tories over communities like Drumchapel, Govan, Easterhouse, and, indeed, Scotland." In an interview with the Sunday Herald in late-August 2014, Colin Fox said: "The SSP has brought a proletarian sense to Yes Scotland and reminded people the decisive issue is whether people think they're going to be better off. It's not the currency, it's not the EU, it's not those highfalutin' chattering class issues." He said that the party brought "a sense of the schemes, the workplaces, the unions" to the campaign. After the referendum After the announcement of the referendum result, in which the pro-union Better Together campaign won; the SSP was amongst the political parties that reported significant increases in their membership levels. Prominent new members included Labour for Independence founder Allan Grogan. The Scottish section of Socialist Appeal left Labour to join the SSP. When the make-up of the Smith Commission was announced, Colin Fox protested the decision to "uniquely exclude" the SSP from proceedings. He wrote to the Smith Commission: "The argument some use to justify our exclusion on the grounds that we currently have no 'parliamentary representation' fails to appreciate that the referendum was not a parliamentary process, but an unprecedented public debate that resulted in an extraordinary level of engagement from all sections of society." The SSP made a written submission which called for wide-ranging fiscal autonomy, with all tax revenues raised in Scotland to be spent by the Scottish Parliament. The SSP's annual conference in 2014 was the party's biggest conference in several years, and the first to be streamed live over the Internet. Members called for the abolition of the Offensive Behaviour Act, for fracking to be banned, a lowering of the State Pension age to 55, scrapping TTIP, and to support a pro-independence electoral alliance for the 2015 Westminster election in Scotland, which failed to