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Scottish Labor leader Richard Leonard resists Intense pressure to resign after senior MSPs said the party faced “catastrophic defeat” in next year’s Holyrood election.
Two Labor leaders, James Kelly, his justice spokesman, and Mark Griffin, his social security spokesman, resigned from their posts on Wednesday as the rebellion escalated over their refusal to stand down.
James Kelly MSP
(@JamesKellyLab)I have resigned from the Shadow Labor Cabinet of Scotland. Today I say publicly what I have said to Richard in private. I sincerely believe that if we want to reverse our luck, Richard must step down. pic.twitter.com/8LmK63QMnk
Two other MSPs, Jenny Marra and Daniel Johnson, joined Kelly and Griffin in calling on Leonard to step down, citing the dire poll ratings of Scottish Labor and Leonard’s very low public profile seven months before the Holyrood election.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland on Wednesday morning, Kelly said: “I am not prepared to sit back and watch a catastrophic defeat.
“It is totally unacceptable: we are 14% at the polls and more than half of the public does not have an opinion on the leader of the party. It has a negative rating among our own followers. You can’t ignore those facts. “
Leonard accused his critics of mounting “an internal war” against him and suggested that many could face deselection for showing disloyalty, insisting that he would fight any challenge to leadership.
Speaking to STV, he said: “I think we need to see new blood here. One of the things that the last few days have taught me is that we need to see an injection of new voices, a more diverse profile of people.
“We want new candidates to come in so that the Scottish Labor Party is represented by people who understand the privilege of being a Labor member of the Scottish Parliament.
“Party members will have to make a decision about whether they want to give back to people who have some faith in the party’s ability to win votes and seats next year, or whether they want people who may not share that opinion to come back. “
Johnson denied trying to undermine Leonard. “We have to change the leadership,” he said. “Frankly, this is a complete calamity for the Scottish Labor Party.” Johnson said a significant number of MSPs agreed.
After seeing the SNP’s poll scores skyrocket to 55% over the summer, Kelly led an MSP delegation to see Leonard two weeks ago to urge him to step down.
Those polls led the Scottish Conservatives to suddenly replace Jackson Carlaw as leader. Leonard’s critics fear the Tories will rebound, turning next May’s election into a two-horse race between the SNP and the Tories.
The rebels decided to go public, several sources said, after Nicola Sturgeon ridiculed Leonard during questions from the prime minister last week, when he accused him of “mimicking the conservatives.” During questions from the prime minister on Wednesday, Sturgeon taunted Leonard by asking if he would still be in office in January.
With Highlands MSP, Rhoda Grant, also supporting Leonard, Hilton tweeted that “Each and every Scottish Labor representative should be 100% focused on fighting the SNP and the Tories, not each other.”
Kelly and Johnson said they wanted him to succeed, but after three years in charge, he had failed to revive the fortunes of the game. His critics say he repeatedly failed to follow his advice or suggestions for new policies.
A source said the UK party shared their concerns, but Sir Keir Starmer, the UK leader, felt unable to get involved in an internal Scottish party affair. Intervening would be seen as a sign that the party was controlled by London, thus playing in the hands of Sturgeon.
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