SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar announced his frontbench earlier – so we had a question for our readers.
As well as snubbing predecessor Richard Leonard, former Scottish Labour deputy leader Alex Rowley was absent from the list of names.
READ MORE: Anas Sarwar snubs Richard Leonard with no front bench role for former leader
Rowley has supported the party being open to a second referendum backing a third option of "devolution max" on the ballot paper.
Sarwar has been clear that his party is opposed to Scotland having a fresh democratic say on independence – to the point of dropping a candidate for being open to indyref2.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour drop Holyrood candidate after she backed indyref2
So, we decided to ask our readers on Facebook a question: Are you a former Labour Party voter? If so, why did you stop voting for them?
Below is a selection of the responses:
Barry Weiland-Jarvis
I stopped voting for them when I realised that the things I had spent my life fighting for, that were the traditional Labour Party values, were no longer what the party stood for.
You only have to look at how Corbyn’s policy platform was denigrated by the PLP to see how far from their traditional values they now are.
I say that as a former member and elected member of the party.
Eileen Leonard
I realised Blair was a red Tory, then watching Labour cheer with the Tories when we lost the referendum. I joined the SNP the next day.
Fiona Mclay
I was brought up to vote Labour, an stopped in 2010. I couldn't vote for Gordon Brown. They lost their soul. Too similar to the Tories and they abstain from voting. They are also responsible for benefit cuts and other austerity measures being voted through in Westminster. They offer nothing for Scotland.
Jimmy Johnstone
Got into bed with the Tories, became centre-right, totally undemocratic and are just as corrupt!
Kenny Mitchell
I was a Labour voter and a member of the CWU until Gordon Brown took management’s side in a dispute where management moved the goalposts after agreeing to negotiations with the union. I withdrew my Labour contribution and I’m an SNP voter all the way now. Labour lost the plot some time ago and took the Scots’ vote for granted to help them into power.
Anne Tierney
For me it was the failure to reverse policies like the sell-off of council houses. I waited for things to change, then it became obvious nothing was going to change and Labour was not going to repair the damage done by Thatcher.
Penny Crichton-Seager
They got rid of Corbyn. And therefore all hope. I now vote SNP
Marcus Albone
The main reason I stopped was I moved to Scotland and the SNP had worthwhile policies, something Labour had given up on.
Paul James
Labour has betrayed its supporters for generations and now is ruled by right-wing Blairists. Starmer is English establishment to his core.
Sandy Maclean
They hid their socialist beliefs in order to win votes in middle England in order to win elections. They then forgot about their socialist beliefs altogether thinking the people of Scotland would always vote for them. Along came a party that represented Scotland and a fairer society. They left us. we didn't leave them.
They are now an irrelevance to politics in Scotland, in my opinion.
Chic Rodgers
Voted Labour all my adult life. I was a card-carrier, then in 2014 Gordon Brown was let loose in Scotland and Better Together became Bitter Together with daily lies. I went from a Labour Party member with no thought on the SNP and nationalism to an ardent supporter of independence. The Labour Party left me. Not the other way round. Red Tories they have become.
Giovanni Gentles
I last voted Labour in 1997, thinking they were on my side as a working-class person.
By the end of 1998 I regretted my vote.
National insurance went up (after promises not to raise income tax), tax relief on mortgages was abolished, interest rates shot through the roof, VAT on everything, council tax went up, plus many other things that meant that I was around 10% out of pocket, not to mention stagnant wages for a decade.
During the election campaign I remember the SNP saying that Labour were just Tories in red. I didn't believe them, but I soon realised they were right.
Tam Mannion
Most of the Scottish Labour bigwigs when I voted Labour are now lords. Foulkes, Robertson, McConnell, Baroness Liddell. Politicians who campaigned to get rid of the Lords now sit sleeping there!
Labour should be asking themselves why most SNP/independence voters are natural Labour voters.
Louise Wylie
I’ll never vote Labour again after seeing them high-fiving the Tories at the results of the referendum in 2014.
Gerard Boyle
Because for 50 years they had a Scottish MP majority and betrayed their electorate.
Donna McCann
I was just talking about this today with my neighbour, both former Labour voters. We agreed we have no idea who Labour represents but it’s not your average Scot. Also disgusted with their greed and seats in the House of Lords. I’ll never vote for them again … hardened unionists of the worst kind.
David G. Davies
Because I moved to Scotland so Green and SNP became options.
Elizabeth Rimmer
Trident and the Iraq war. It became clear that London Labour wasn't even listening to Scottish Labour whereas the SNP were unequivocal about both issues.
Margaret Gibb
I was a Labour supporter most of my younger life because they cared about the ordinary working man and woman. This changed when Blair became involved, he turned Labour into Tories with Tory principles.
I will never again vote for the Labour Party. We need people who care about Scotland and its people and that means independence.
Sheila MacIver
Because they do not support Scottish Independence
David Tam McDonald
Tuition fees. I was a student when they came in so watched how my university changed. Poorer students just stopped going. Total betrayal of everything they’re supposed to stand for. When SNP announced they’d end tuition fees I switched.
Crìosd Monaghan McCusker
The Iraq war, Need I say more? As a trade unionist all my working life, I could never vote Labour again. Add that to the fact they wish to be part of the establishment rather than fighting against it. Also they wish to tie Scotland to the union, Scotland needs to have all the powers necessary so that we can prosper away from the capitalist society of London.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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