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Richard Leonard’s leadership has come under fire from some sections of the party since he took over from Kezia Dugdale three years ago.
Four Scottish Labor MSPs have called on party leader Richard Leonard to resign before next year’s Scottish Parliament elections.
James Kelly resigned as the party’s justice spokesman, saying he did not trust Leonard’s leadership.
Social Security spokesman Mark Griffin also resigned, and advocates Jenny Marra and Daniel Johnson added their voices to calls for Leonard to leave.
Leonard has promised to lead the party to the elections.
He accused the MSPs of waging an “internal war” against him, and said he would be fighting in the elections with a platform to “build a National Care Service, establish a Quality Jobs Guarantee scheme and revive Scotland’s economy with a New Green Deal “.
‘Inner faction fight’
Leonard added: “If any party representative believes that an internal faction struggle is more important than this agenda, then he will have to answer to the party members and the voters we serve.”
She took over the leadership from Kezia Dugdale in 2017, but since then there have been concerns about her performance from some top party figures.
Opinion polls suggest that Scottish Labor is a distant third of the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives ahead of next May’s elections.
The party fell to fifth place in last year’s European elections after winning just 9.3% of the vote, down from 26% in the previous 2014 elections.
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Jenny Marra said that Leonard’s leadership had been linked to Corbyn’s, and now was the time for him to leave.
In its statement of resignationKelly said Leonard’s personal poll ratings were particularly low, even among the party’s own supporters.
He added: “Such a low rating would produce a catastrophic result from which the party would have a hard time recovering.
“I am not confident in your ability to shape the party’s message, strategy and organization. I know this is a view shared by other MPs, party members, and indeed many members of the public.
“It is clear that after almost three years in office you cannot move the party forward. I firmly and sincerely believe that the best thing for the party is that you resign as leader.”
Ms Marra echoed his views, telling The Times that the party risked “catastrophe” if it did not change course.
She described Leonard, who was considered a close ally of former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, as “fully committed to the party, the cause and loved by all.”
But he added: “Richard is a stalwart of our party, but he cannot lead us. That is the inevitable truth and change is our best hope.”
Richard’s leadership was tied to the Jeremy Corbyn project disaster from the beginning. It continues to be so in public view and they will simply not give an audience to the party as it is.
“We need new energy, a new approach, and a new page to turn.”
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James Kelly has resigned as party justice spokesman on Leonard’s leadership
A third MSP, Daniel Johnson, tweeted his support for Ms. Marra and Mr. Kelly, saying: “It is time to acknowledge the situation we are in and for Richard to step down.”
Johnson said he had tried to raise his concerns and make constructive suggestions, but said they had not been taken into account and there had been no change in focus or performance.
He added: “Continuing like this will be disastrous for our party and that is why I no longer have confidence in Richard Leonard’s leadership.”
Meanwhile, Griffin said polls suggested that less than half of the voting public knows who Leonard is, and that the majority of those who do, including the majority of Scottish Labor voters, have a negative opinion of him.
He added: “We cannot hope to improve when any criticism, public or private, is dismissed as fractional.”
However, Leonard was backed by Scottish Labor MSP Neil Findlay, who is also to the left of the party.
Findlay tweeted that colleagues demanding Leonard’s head were “pathetic” and guilty of “betrayal with a grunt.”
This is an attempt to overthrow the Scottish Labor leader, and it may not be over yet.
Before resigning as the party’s justice spokesman, James Kelly privately approached Richard Leonard asking him to step down.
I am told that he did so on behalf of a sizeable group of Labor MSPs, certainly more than the four that have now spoken publicly.
What is less clear is whether any of them would be willing to challenge you to a formal leadership contest.
Leonard has told the BBC that he intends to lead the party to the 2021 Holyrood election and has questioned the suitability of his critics to participate in that contest.
The party has yet to make its roster selections and it is understood that Leonard favors a gender balanced system that may eliminate some existing MSPs.
Kelly insists his concern is not for himself, but for the future of the Scottish Labor Party, which has lost ground in elections and opinion polls while Richard Leonard has been in office.
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