Scottish Labour split: New poll shows voters want UK break

This includes 21% of habitual voters who have never previously voted Labour.

Support rose further when voters were offered a more radical option: a "Scotland-only" progressive, pro-devolution, pro-European party without the Labour name at all.

Under that scenario, 82% of former Labour voters now backing the SNP and 71% of those now backing the Greens said they would consider switching back.

The polling suggests such a party could outperform Scottish Labour's showing in the first devolved election in 1999, when Donald Dewar led the party to 38.8% of the constituency vote and 33.6% on the regional list.

Anas Sarwar walks off stage at the Glasgow count (Image: Colin Mearns)

Just For Scotland said 39% of voters would consider backing a rebranded, fully separate party, a higher share than Labour secured under Dewar.

Younger voters were found to be the most receptive to the idea, with every age group under 55 backing the move by a margin of roughly two to one, an enthusiasm that was more pronounced still when the option dropped the Labour name entirely.

The findings come two months after Scottish Labour recorded its worst ever Holyrood result.

Despite confidence they were outperforming the polls and challenging the SNP for government, Labour's constituency vote was down 2.4 points on 2021, their list vote down 1.9 points. Their seat tally fell from 22 to 17.

The party lost some of its most high-profile and most respected MSPs, including Paul O'Kane, Monica Lennon and Martin Whitfield.

Jack McConnell of Just For Scotland said the results amounted to "a wake-up call" for the party. "Only a total break from UK Labour, ideally with a name change, will convince voters that our party is firmly on Scotland's side," he said.

"Our party will be extinct by the end of next decade on our average loss of 6.5 seats in every Scottish Parliament election.

"This isn't about Starmer, or Burnham, or nationalism. This is about winning. For every moment of inertia, we undermine our movement and our values. A 'one more heave' mentality has led to consistent losses.

"But other places around the world have parties aligned on values but running separately. We would be in good company.

"In 2031, we cannot yet again let down Scottish patients waiting in pain, Scottish children struggling at school, Scottish mothers failed by lack of maternity services, and Scottish citizens looking for work. The conversation is starting. It is urgent.

"Just For Scotland is calling on the Scottish Executive Committee to seriously explore these models, and will share our upcoming paper with them. JFS is approaching three figures of supporters, is cohering a core group of organisers, and is here to stay."

Just For Scotland said it was calling on Scottish Labour's Scottish Executive Committee to "seriously explore these models" and would share a forthcoming paper setting out its case. The group, launched in June 2026, said it was approaching "three figures" of active supporters and was building a core team of organisers.

Andy Burnham is set to take over as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom. (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

The polling comes as Andy Burnham takes over from Sir Keir Starmer as UK Labour leader. He will become Prime Minister early next week.

Mr Burnham is close to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. Both served in the Commons together and Mr Sarwar ran the Scottish branch of Mr Burnham's 2010 leadership campaign.

In a speech this afternoon, the former Greater Manchester mayor, who returned to Westminster last month as Makerfield MP, is expected to set out plans to focus on economic renewal, more public control and reindustrialisation.

He will say that Britain took "a series of wrong turns in the 1980s" when "political power was centralised and economic power privatised".

Making the economy work for people across the UK will require "a new path to the one we've been on for the last 40 years", Mr Burnham is set to say.

He will promise that the party under his leadership will be "unashamedly Labour in our priorities and in the decisions we take, putting people and places at the heart of everything we do".

Mr Burnham was the only candidate to get the required support to replace Sir Keir Starmer as party leader after his resignation.

He was backed by 369 of the party's 403 MPs, far surpassing the 81 needed, and secured the support of eight of the 11 unions affiliated with the party.

Mr Burnham has spoken about how he wants to push powers to local leaders outside Westminster as part of his devolution agenda and to create a "No 10 North" outpost of Downing Street based in Manchester.

He has said he will stick to Rachel Reeves' fiscal rules as well as manifesto pledges not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance, but declined to rule out a wealth tax in an interview this week.

He is reportedly poised to name Shabana Mahmood rather than Ed Miliband as his chancellor when he takes over as leader, a move The Times reported on Thursday night has triggered pushback from figures on the party's left.