The Royal British Legion Scotland has defended a controversial re-branding that has prompted a barrage of “abusive” messages in the run-up to Remembrance Day.
Kevin Gray, the chief executive of the veterans organisation, issued a statement after receiving criticism on social media for changing the name to Legion Scotland.
The Press and Journal reported yesterday that a comments section on a Legion Scotland web page had to be disabled to try to defuse the row before Remembrance Sunday.
A stream of critics had said they were “deeply offended and absolutely outraged” by the decision, and demanded the reinstatement of the Royal British Legion Scotland title.
Legion Scotland claimed yesterday that many of the posts were made by pro-Union supporters of a social media group called “I am British and Proud”.
Mr Gray explained why the decision was taken.
He said: “The day-to-day name of ‘Legion Scotland’ has been in place since May 2014 and was launched, along with new services, to place the charity in a stronger position to help the ex-service community of Scotland.
“It helps to clearly differentiate us as a charity from The Royal British Legion group of charities.
“We have not removed ‘Royal’ or ‘British’ from our legal name. We are very proud of our history and our values.”
He added: “We want to make it clear that we are here for and committed to providing the very best we can for veterans and their families whether they are 18 or 80 and whether they left service yesterday or 50 years ago.
“This change is vital to ensure that our members, supporters, volunteers and the public know who we are and what we do.
“We hope that everyone who shares our concerns and values would work with us and our sister charities, to provide the best support to all veterans in the Scottish veterans’ community across the world.”
The criticism continued online yesterday, despite Mr Gray’s statement.
One user said: “How could you betray the British forces like this?”
Another wrote “As a veteran of Afghanistan, I wholeheartedly disagree with the name change.
“At best it is needles marketing and at worst a nefarious example of creeping republican nationalism. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.”