Scottish Labour chief Richard Leonard resists calls to give up

The Scottish Labour chief has insisted that he nonetheless has the backing of the occasion regardless of rising requires him to give up.

Richard Leonard mentioned the occasion’s finest likelihood in subsequent Might’s Scottish Parliament election was for it to “unite behind me”.

4 Scottish Labour MSPs have overtly referred to as on Mr Leonard to resign.

Shadow cupboard minister Rachel Reeves has additionally now mentioned he ought to “think about his place”.

In an interview with Sky Information, Ms Reeves mentioned opinion polls in Scotland have been “dire” for Labour regardless of the occasion showing to be neck-and-neck with the Conservatives throughout the UK as a complete.

The shadow Cupboard Secretary urged Mr Leonard to “think about his place and do what he thinks is correct for Scotland and for Scottish Labour”.

• Fourth MSP requires Scottish Labour chief to give up

A spokesman for UK Labour chief Keir Starmer mentioned on Wednesday that the problem was one for Scottish Labour, and insisted that the 2 leaders had a “superb working relationship”.

Mr Leonard mentioned Ms Reeves was not a member of Scottish Labour.

He advised BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “I’m elected by members of the Scottish Labour Get together. That’s who I am accountable to.

“They elected me again in 2017 to guide the Scottish Labour Get together into the Might 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. That’s what I’m on target to do.”

Mr Leonard mentioned he had obtained “an enormous variety of messages of assist” from throughout the occasion and commerce unions.

He added: “I’m assured that I’ve obtained the backing of the members of the Scottish Labour Get together who elected me slightly below three years in the past to guide this occasion.”

James Kelly resigned as Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman earlier this week, saying he had no confidence in Mr Leonard’s management.

Social safety spokesman Mark Griffin has additionally give up, with backbenchers Jenny Marra and Daniel Johnson including their voices to requires Mr Leonard to go.

Mr Leonard took over the management from Kezia Dugdale in 2017, and was seen as being near then-UK Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn.

However there have been considerations about his efficiency from some senior occasion figures ever since.

Opinion polls recommend Scottish Labour is trailing a distant third behind the SNP and Scottish Conservatives forward of the election subsequent Might.

The occasion slumped to fifth in final yr’s European elections after successful simply 9.3% of the votes – down from 26% within the earlier election in 2014 – and misplaced all however one in all its seats in final yr’s normal election.

And there are fears from pro-UK campaigners that one other poor efficiency by Labour in subsequent yr’s Holyrood election would improve the possibilities of the SNP successful a majority.

Mr Leonard mentioned he had inherited a celebration in third place and didn’t underestimate the dimensions of the problem it confronted, however that he had “religion within the values that we stand for and I’ve obtained religion within the coverage concepts that we are going to provide the individuals”.

He added: “I feel the political atmosphere is altering due to the pandemic, I feel persons are re-evaluating their priorities.

“I’m positive as individuals get nearer to the election subsequent yr they’ll perceive that the subsequent 5 years, the subsequent Scottish authorities and the subsequent Scottish Parliament’s priorities will must be on recovering the economic system, tackling the roles disaster and investing in public companies like our Nationwide Well being Service.

“I’m satisfied that after we get nearer to the election and the coverage agenda is outlined, increasingly [people] will flip to the Scottish Labour Get together.”

Mr Leonard has been backed by Scottish Labour figures together with MSP Neil Findlay, who can be on the left of the occasion.

Mr Findlay tweeted that the colleagues who have been calling for Mr Leonard’s head have been “pathetic” and responsible of “treachery with a snarl”.