Yup we've all heard the line: "I didn't leave Labour, Labour left me".
In our family's case it's more accurately spoken as: "I left Labour because Labour lied to me".
The lies told on the doorsteps of Scotland during the Independence Referendum Campaign were outrageous. My mother was told that her pension would stop on the 19th September if it were a NO vote. These were Labour people we had known and trusted, campaigned with, supported, and worked hard for. These were ostensibly nice peeps and they were lying to our faces.
Lots of my family are English. They were told they'd be "sent home to England", "repatriated".
Polish friends were told they'd be forcibly removed from the UK.
One of my relatives was told the banks would close.
The lies just kept coming and it was Labour that were doing it.
We began actively listening to BBC Scotland News, not for news but for bias. Some of the family joined the throngs of people protesting outside of Pacific quay in Glasgow.
When a Party that you trusted lies to you and those lies are supported and promulgated by the media, something clicks and it's the door shutting on them.
There is no redemption for Labour in Scotland.
There is no way back.
They might as well shut up shop.
My forebears were founding members of the ILP in Glasgow. My Great Granny walked to London to protest during the Rent Strikes with a baby tucked under her arm. My People were in George square when they read the Riot Act. My heritage is Labour, but my future is an Independent Scotland without Labour and Labour have no-one to blame but themselves.
I have to wholeheartedly agree with your observations on the decline of the labour party in Scotland. I've been a socialist and trade unionist all my adult life and for much of was a "Labour Man" - but for quite a while now the Labour Party in Scotland has not represented the working people and I find like many the SNP now is the choice of the practical day to day socialist trying to make a change to the society we live in.
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