A CAMPAIGN has been launched to split Scottish Labour from the main UK party after the group's worst election results since the start of devolution.
Launched by Jack McConnel, a former Scottish Labour candidate – not former first minister Jack McConnell, the "Just For Scotland" campaign calls on the party to gain full independence from its Westminster leadership. Its slogan on social media is "Make Scottish Labour Scottish".
McConnel, the leader of the movement, told the Daily Record that he believes Scottish voters don't think the party can effectively "be for Scotland" because of its connection to decisions made in Westminster.
The former candidate for Galloway and West Dumfries said: "We used to be seen as the party to stand up for Scotland because we delivered our Parliament. But we’ve now let too many Scots assume we can’t be for Scotland.
"Splitting from the rest of Labour would help us be seen as just for Scotland, without worrying about what people in Westminster think. We need to be confident in our pro-Union beliefs while remembering why we were the party of devolution.
“Becoming a new party won’t solve every problem of social democracy, but it’s a vital first step to progress in other areas.”
It comes after the party suffered a poor Scottish election campaign, returning five fewer MSPs than in 2021 and finishing joint second with Reform UK.
Labour has lost representatives in parliament in each election after devolution, falling from a peak of 56 MSPs in 1999 to just 17 in 2026.
The Scottish Parliament is now made up of the largest pro-independence majority in its devolved history, but McConnel has insisted that the new-look Scottish Labour party would remain Unionist at its core, instead advocating for increased devolution.
The campaign's website states: "Parties are vehicles to put values into practice; nations are much bigger than that. No-one with Scotland’s best interests at heart would equate a party with the great nation of Scotland.
"We strongly believe in unions, in devolution, and in Scotland. None of these are in conflict.
"Plenty of other devolved and federal countries have similar arrangements, where parties that hold similar values nonetheless run separately.
"Scottish Labour was the party of devolution, and we think that separating ourselves from UK Labour would be a constructive move to further mature a devolved Scotland.
"We must be confident in our beliefs and arguments: Unionism is entirely compatible with passion for devolution."
The site also says that the party would "certainly" want to maintain links with the Westminster party while retaining independence, describing it as their "sister party of social democracy".
The splinter group has also claimed it "doesn't take a position on the leadership of UK Labour", claiming its launch has not come as a result of Keir Starmer's unpopularity.
The site said: "The campaign doesn’t take a position on the leadership of UK Labour.
"However, we do note the close link between the fortunes of Scottish Labour in Holyrood elections and that of UK Labour, and we want to break that link: we should succeed or fail on our own merits.
"In every election since 1999, and particularly since we lost government, Scottish Labour has lost vote share and MSPs.
"There are many reasons for this, and members will have diverse analyses, but this campaign is solely focused on making Scottish Labour Scottish."
Earlier this year Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on Starmer to quit over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Sarwar's gamble was not supported by other senior Labour figures, with several cabinet ministers including Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Chancellor Rachel Reeves coming out in support of the embattled prime minister even as Sarwar was speaking.
After the loss in the May 7 election, it has emerged that Scottish Labour will review their links with Westminster, with a leaked document seen by the Daily Record reportedly saying the "operational and financial relationship between Scottish Labour and UK Labour” will be examined.
