It’s emerged that the Scottish Labour Party is fronted by Westminster paymasters. The Scottish wing of Labour relies entirely on its anti-sovereignty London HQ bosses to cover its staffers’ wages.
Scottish Labour’s most recent financial accounts show that it paid for no staff last year, with the UK-wide operation meeting employees’ wages. The SNP claimed Scottish Labour “don’t exist” after the revelations.
One note in the accounts filings, showed that the UK operation had pledged “financial assistance” to the Scottish branch. This was to ensure its viability, rendering it essentially a southern front organisation.
The accounts were published alongside most other large parties by the Electoral Commission on Thursday, 6 August. The publication made clear what many north of the border have long suspected. It confirms that Scottish Labour only exists insofar as it’s an astroturf organisation for Westminster domination.
That perception isn’t helped by the recent “chancer” resignation of its former leader, Anas Sarwar.
‘Scottish Labour don’t exist’
Scottish Labour’s income dwindled from £2.1 million in 2024 to just £1.5m last year. One accounts note said that the Scottish branch was promised financial support from HQ to keep it a “going concern”.
In other words, Scottish Labour would face financial ruin were it not for funding from the nation-wide operation. The ‘party’ would become defunct if its southern paymasters weren’t fronting its viability.
Speaking about the revelations, SNP MSP Alex Kerr told the National:
Let’s not beat about the bush here, Scottish Labour don’t exist. As we all know, it is funded and staffed by the UK Labour Party.
That’s who they answer to and that’s why they deny the Scottish people a democratic say over their own future – no Westminster paymaster will allow otherwise.
No matter who leads the Labour Party in Scotland, for as long as they answer to London Labour and not the Scottish people they will forever be punished at that ballot box – you cannot deny democracy to Scotland and expect the trust of our people.
However, a Scottish Labour spokesperson responded to Kerr:
According to the SNP, it lost 35 seats to a non-existent party in the General Election. Alex Kerr should be embarrassed to put his name to this nonsense.
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Lord Sarwar jumps a ghost ship
The revelations of Scottish Labour’s organisational inadequacy come shortly after its former leader “jumped ship“. Newly-minted Lord Sarwar accepted a peerage in order to join newly-minted PM Andy Burnham’s cabinet. He has joined in a laughably junior role as a minister in Burnham’s BIST department.
Sarwar was branded a “chancer” by his opponents in Holyrood for leaving Scotland to join his perceived ally Burnham in Westminster. He made political headlines beyond the border after calling for Keir Starmer to step down, way back in February. This move potentially spelled the start of the end for Starmer.
The Scottish Greens party co-leader Gillian Mackay said of Sarwar’s swift exit southward:
Anas Sarwar is a chancer. He has gone from promising to scrap the House of Lords to taking a seat in it. He has spent years attacking the very institution he is now preparing to join. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Sarwar had previously labelled the House of Lords “unacceptable” in 2022. But he was also offered the peerage, likely in a backroom deal, by Burnham… The same man who once called for:
an elected senate of the nations and regions to replace the Lords.
Sarwar’s bid to become ruler of Scotland went spectacularly wrong. The SNP instead held power for their fifth consecutive term. Meanwhile, Scottish Labour recorded their worst Holyrood result since devolution.
Truthfully however, Sarwar conveniently blamed Starmer for their abysmal result in Scotland. He might want to look deeper at the astroturf organisation he steered for Westminster. There’s little chance he’ll pause to do that now that his long-held ambition for southern power has been met.
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What did the accounts say?
The accounts released by Labour said:
In consideration of the available reserves as at December 31, 2025 and the budgeted results for the subsequent accounting period the Labour Party has confirmed that it will provide financial assistance to the Scottish Labour Party as required to allow the Scottish Labour Party to meet its liabilities as they fall due, for a period of at least 12 months from the date of signing of the financial statements.
Based upon the undertaking of financial support outlined above the treasurer has a reasonable expectation that the party has adequate resources to continue its activities for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the treasurer has adopted the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
The same document showed that the ‘party’ itself did not pay for any staff last year. This was despite Anas Sarwar gearing up for an election where he hoped to replace SNP leader John Swinney as first minister.
The National said that they understand it to be the case that:
Scottish Labour’s core staff are always employed at a UK level and additional staff are funded by the Scottish party based on need.
This would account for the fact that the party directly employed four members of staff in 2024, during the General Election where Keir Starmer focused intensely on winning back seats from the SNP.
The same is unsurprisingly true of that other Westminster front organisation, Reform UK Scotland.
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