Pulling or digging it out will have no effect. The creeping bit can go down a long way and is a series of interwoven, easily broken roots. You'll never get them all out.
With spear thistle, digging out by hand can take several years of diligence, but does work in the end.
Constant cutting, preferably with a lawn mower with a collecting box, so the spikey leaves don't stick in fleece, mouths etc, seems to be the only successful way to kill creeping thistle. Eventually the roots run out of nutrients, as they have no leaves to feed them. It takes several years and there are always more waiting in the wings. Mowing spear thistle definitely doesn't work.
The other possibility is I suppose using chemical weedkillers, but if you are like us and don't want chemicals on your land, then cutting is your means.
As a compensation for having creeping thistle, honey bees love them, making any patch of the sweet smelling light blue flowers abuzz with activity.