and a majority of 5,488. Scottish independence and enhanced devolution Lamont was a prominent figure in the Better Together Campaign, the cross-party political movement founded to keep Scotland as part of the United Kingdom following the SNP's announcement of a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. She was outspoken in her opposition to Scottish independence, using a keynote speech at UK Labour's 2013 conference in Brighton to accuse the SNP of nurturing hostility between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and describing nationalism as a "virus that has affected so many nations and done so much harm". Lamont is in favour of greater devolved powers for the Scottish Parliament, and established a Commission to look at how this can be achieved. 2014 referendum and Better Together campaign After taking office as Labour leader in December 2011, Lamont urged First Minister Salmond to set a date for the referendum, arguing in her leadership acceptance speech that uncertainty over the referendum's timeline was having a negative impact on Scotland. On 10 January 2012 Salmond announced late 2014 as his preferred time for a referendum. The Scottish Government confirmed the referendum question on 25 January 2012, and announced on 21 March 2013 that the referendum would be held on 18 September 2014. Lamont told Scottish Labour's 2012 annual conference she wanted her party's campaign to be one of "collective leadership" against independence, a strategy which she envisaged would become a cross-party movement arguing the case for keeping Scotland in the UK. At the Scottish Conservative Party conference a few weeks later, party leader Ruth Davidson called for Lamont and her opponents to work together. The Better Together Campaign, fronted by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, was launched at an event attended by Lamont and other senior Scottish political figures at Edinburgh's Napier University on 25 June 2012. Along with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other senior Scottish Labour figures, Lamont launched the party's own pro-union campaign, United with Labour in May 2013. The Scottish Government published Scotland's Future, a white paper setting out its vision for an independent Scotland, on 26 November 2013. Lamont dismissed it as "670 pages of assertion and uncertainty". Addressing the Shadow Cabinet of UK Labour leader Ed Miliband on 28 January 2014, Lamont warned that Scots could vote for independence if they believed Labour was unlikely to win the 2015 UK general election.