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Scottish Labour's Former Supporters Showed Their Anger in Glasgow Last Week

On Thursday, around 200 people turned up to wave placards and shout about the party they used to trust turning into a group of treacherous bastards.

This post originally appeared on VICE UK

Scottish Labour are currently going through ​a bit of a rough patch. By that, I mean they sided with the Tories and lost a vast number of supporters during the independence referendum, then their leader quit, then they were accused of being in "meltdown" by Nicola Sturgeon, who's set to become First Minister when Alex Salmond steps down.

So it was no huge surprise that their gala dinner on Thursday night turned into a bit of a shit-show. As party members sat down to what was presumably a very nice meal in the four star Glasgow Central Hotel, around 200 protesters stood outside screaming, "Red-Tory scum! Red-Tory scum!", highlighting the fact that more and more Scottish people ​are relying on food banks and waving placards accusing party members of being treacherous bastards.

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To make matters that little bit worse, Ed Miliband decided to drop off a carrier bag full of edibles at the food bank protest going on in conjunction with the demonstration against his party. Audrey Frame, a 55-year-old from Edinburgh, didn't appreciate the gesture and tried to get Ed to take the bag back, but was held away by police.

(A slightly blurry) ​Audrey Frame holding the bag dropped off by Ed Miliband

After the Labour leader had made his way inside she said, "I think the bag was a total ploy--a tactic--and quite a crap one at that. If Ed never went running behind the police, I'd ask him where he gets his moral authority from, to earn what he does and to still say he represents working class people. Wait till you see what he put it in the bag, you couldn't make it up."

The contents of Miliband's bag: Scottish produce, the only food Scottish people will eat

Getting into the hotel to talk to party members was impossible--security was pretty tight, thanks to the aforementioned rough patch Scottish Labour are going through--so I had a chat with a few more of the protesters instead. ​

VICE: Hi Alessio. Your placard is aimed at the next potential Scottish Labour leader, Jim Murphy. What would you say to him if you met him?
Alessio: I actually ​confronted him with a bunch of guys before the referendum, but I'd ask him if he was proud of voting for a war that killed over a half a million people in Iraq. He's also a part of Labour Friends of Israel, a genocidal regime. I'd like to know if he was proud of that, too. That, and he's part of a disgraceful party, obviously.

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Let's forget Murphy for a second. What do you have to say about Scottish Labour generally?
Well, Labour's lies and fear mongering during the referendum did it for me. They were happy to get into bed with the Tories and the Orange Order, who are both far removed from the mindset of most Scots. They've totally alienated their traditional voters. They've shot themselves in the foot, really, and they deserve everything that's coming to them.

Hi Sharon, why are you here tonight?
Sharon: It's an opportunity to communicate with a Labour party that doesn't listen to the people any more. I used to be a Labour voter, but after the Tony Blair era it was obvious where the party was headed, which was, in my opinion, down a right wing path.

Is there anything Labour could do to win back your vote? 
​The UK Labour party appears to call the shots in Scotland, and without the Scottish party separating and running itself I don't see much changing. As far as politics as a whole goes, I've never been more enthusiastic. In a way, it's a tragic time for politics because the amount of insincerity across the board, but that makes people restless, and hopefully that'll provoke change.

Hi Jessica, what's your placard about?
Jessica: The Labour party have always been a racist, imperial, anti-working class party. I'm coming from a socialist perspective; I take the position that they represent the more privileged layers of the working class.

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Most of the people I've spoken to tonight say Labour used to represent something that they no longer do, but you're saying they've always been dodgy?
I guess people did receive some gains a while back, but that money came out of the plunder of Crown colonies, and that's not right. Just because some people benefited materially at the expense of extracting resources from less developed countries, doesn't make it right.

What would you like to see happening in the future then? Do you have any faith in the political establishment at all?
I want justice and democracy, but only if it's for the whole world, rather than at the expense of underdeveloped countries. In politics, I think there are pockets of resistance about, but we need to create a movement that represents the interest of the working class. I feel that change comes from the streets, not the ballot box.

Hi Michelle, why are you protesting tonight?
Michelle: I think we need to make a stand against the Labour Party, especially in Scotland. They say they stand for working people, but they clearly don't. They're no longer welcome in Scotland--they sold us out big time.

Do you think this protest would still be happening if Scotland had voted for independence?
I'd hope it would be because they still tried to sell Scotland down the river regardless. They say they stand up for the poor, but they're in that hotel, dining in luxury while Glasgow is getting fed out of food banks. And it's not just Glasgow, it's the whole of Britain. It's a joke, just not a very funny one.

Hello mate, what brings you to Glasgow?
​Grim Reaper: I've come to get the Scottish Labour party and bring them back to hell.

Why's that?
Well, we all know Westminster is corrupt as hell… I'm English, but I want to see SNP members getting into London to expose how corrupt the place is. Personally, I'd vote for the Green party, or, tactically, for the SNP. I've met Jim Murphy before, but he ran away because I am death. If I met Ed Miliband, I'd ask him to join me in hell.