THEY say that every accusation is a confession.
We may finally have proof. Scottish Labour spent years arguing that Scotland was too wee, too poor and too stupid to become independent. Were they really talking about themselves?
The branch office’s accounts were published earlier this week and it’s not especially cheery reading for Jackie Baillie, who is acting leader since Anas Sarwar hightailed it down to London to join the Lords.
They also cast doubt on the arguments of those who believe that the Scottish party should strike out on its own, severing ties with the UK party.
Income is down and the branch had to get its London bosses to pledge “financial assistance” to remain a “going concern”.
Let’s take the questions in turn. Are Scottish Labour too wee to become an independent party?
The numbers are not encouraging on this point. Scottish Labour do not publish their membership numbers and a request by The National to get the figure was knocked back.
But a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation puts the number at around 12,295, based on Scottish Labour’s claim that “most members pay £6.14 per month” and a reported income from membership fees of £75,495 last year. A party spokesperson said our number didn’t account for lower rates paid by “a lot of members” such as students and retirees, so maybe call it 13,500 to be fair.
In any case, that would still be fewer than the roughly 18,000 people who bought Nicola Sturgeon’s memoirs, according to sales figures from October last year.
Even more remarkably, it is below the numbers of people who voted for the Alliance to Liberate Scotland (19,318), Alistair McConnachie’s “spoiler party” Independent Green Voice (19,975) and the Scottish Family Party (17,136).
Of course, membership of a political party has always been a minority pursuit, but it is worth remembering that Sarwar led Scottish Labour in May to its worst ever result by seats and vote share since the reconvention of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
And whatever the true number is, it is certainly lower than the SNP’s 64,525 members.
So too wee, probably, to be a serious, independent force in Scottish politics.
It seems indelicate to bring up the poverty aspect but we must. One immediate difficulty that might encounter an independent Scottish Labour Party would be the rather significant matter of having to pay its own staff. You might be surprised to learn this is not something they already do.
Instead, the UK operation pays employees’ wages and other staff are directly employed as and when required.
Standing on their own two feet might be made harder, too, by the party’s declining income. Last year, Scottish Labour brought in just £1.5 million. The year before, they had revenues of £2.1m and before that, £1m.
Maybe this is why the party is charging a staggering £5000 for the privilege of standing in its leadership contest.
For comparison, the independent SNP had £3.7m to play with last year, £4.5m the year before and £4.7m in 2023. Even with those larger sums, John Swinney imposed swingeing headcount cuts to reverse the party’s £383,707 deficit in 2024.
As Unionists are so fond of warning Scots, the first years of an independent Scottish Labour Party might necessitate a severe austerity regime to balance the books.
And finally, are Scottish Labour too stupid? This is obviously subjective but we may make an informed judgment based on the party’s ongoing leadership contest.
Of the candidates, only one is untarnished by the Sarwar debacle: Monica Lennon, and she might not even get on the ballot.
Michael Marra was the author of Scottish Labour’s disastrous 2026 manifesto and Sarwar’s right-hand man during his ill-fated time at the top.
Joe Fagan, previously a complete unknown, has managed to pinch Sarwar’s key allies including Baillie, whose fingerprints are all over a succession of Scottish Labour flops, and the soon-to-be Lord’s erstwhile spin doctor, Oliver Milne.
We wouldn’t presume to diagnose the high heid yins of Scottish Labour as “too stupid” to run their own affairs, but a quick survey of the mess they are in would surely lead some to that very conclusion.
This is mostly academic because there seems to be little appetite for an independent Scottish Labour Party. The idea gets floated every now and then – pushed with gusto by some of its louder supporters in the media – and then fades from view, only to be dusted off when party’s next electoral thrashing rolls around.
It’s probably just as well really; Scottish Labour’s internal Project Fear would have a lot to work with.
