Kezia Dugdale secures more independence for Scottish Labour

Scottish Labour - credit Scottish Labour

Kezia Dugdale’s proposals for more autonomy for Scottish Labour has secured the backing of the UK party’s ruling NEC.

The new arrangements give the party full control of policy north of the border, and will see the party represented on the NEC by an MSP.

Candidate selection and constituency parties will also now be the responsibility of the Scottish Labour Party Executive Committee (SEC).

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The proposals, first suggested by a joint statement between Dugdale and UK leader Jeremy Corbyn last year, are expected to be ratified at the UK Labour conference in Liverpool, which starts this weekend.

After attending the NEC meeting in London, Dugdale said: “These will be the biggest changes we’ve seen to how the Scottish Labour Party is run in a generation. It means Scottish Labour is now on track to become fully autonomous within the UK Labour Party.

“I’m looking forward to making these arguments at the UK conference next week, and hopefully seeing the proposals passed by delegates.

“It is right that as devolution strengthens across the UK that Scottish Labour changes to reflect that. Today we took an important step in achieving that.”

Labour officials meanwhile delayed a final decision on whether to bring back elections to the Shadow Cabinet.

NEC members agreed to discuss the issue further once the outcome of the leadership ballot was announced at the weekend, with Corbyn being challenged by Welsh MP Owen Smith.

A party source told Holyrood’s sister site PoliticsHome: "There's agreement for talks to take place between Jeremy and parliamentary Labour party representatives, and they will report back to the NEC on Saturday."