Pressure builds for Jim Murphy to resign leadership

Pressure is building for Jim Murphy to resign as leader of Scottish Labour, with MSP Alex Rowley adding to calls for him to go.

Rowley announced his resignation from the Scottish Labour shadow cabinet in an open letter, calling for Murphy, along with his chief of staff John McTernan and the rest of his team, to quit.

Rowley, who was shadow Local Government Minister, writes: “I thought your speech on Friday stating that you would stay on and lead Labour into the 2016 election was a mistake, and that it would also be a mistake for the team you put in place, including your Chief of Staff, to remain in post.

“However, we have a leader in the Scottish Parliament and much of the focus of the next year will be on the Scottish Parliament and the performance of the SNP government over the last 8 years in Scotland.  I sincerely hold the view that you continuing as leader whilst not in the Scottish Parliament, and not in an elected position holding a democratic mandate, means you will become an unhelpful distraction from the real issues that Scottish Labour must focus on.

“Over the coming weeks rank and file Labour Party members must have their say on the way forward for Labour in Scotland and I want to be part of that discussion.  It is clear from the discussion yesterday that dissent in public from the leadership view is perceived as disloyalty, but I am convinced we need a fundamental change in direction and strategy and therefore cannot sign up to your leadership as one of your shadow team.”

The move follows calls from Unite the union and Aslef, the train drivers union, for Murphy to go.

Meanwhile Unison responded to warn that the scale of Scottish Labour's defeat demands a “radical change in approach”, while stopped short of calling for Murphy to step down.

However the union also stated that although it would not attempt to initiate a change of leader, it would not oppose a wider movement for change if it arose.

It said: “The campaign may have been energetic, but it lacked focus and clearly voters do not regard Jim Murphy as a credible messenger of Scottish Labour values.

“Scottish Labour has a limited period of time to reorganise itself to provide a credible challenge in the Scottish Parliament elections next year. There is very little time for a new leader to take the necessary actions, which require more than simply a change of leadership. Against that is the risk of further damage being done in next year’s election if no change takes place.

“The current leader was elected fairly recently by a clear majority of members. However a majority of UNISON Labour Link members did not share that view. Given that, we do not believe it is UNISON’s place to initiate a change in leadership. However, if there is a wider movement proposing change UNISON Labour Link would not oppose it.”

Neil Findlay, one of those who ran against Murphy for the Scottish Labour leadership, announced his intention to resign his position in the shadow cabinet on Saturday, though he went short of directly calling for Murphy to resign and insisted he would not run for leader if the vacancy arose.

In his statement Findlay warned “Thursday's election was a disaster for the Scottish Labour Party. Despite huge efforts by all concerned since 2007 we have gone from the dominant party of Scottish politics to a party with only 38 MSPs and one solitary MP.

“The problems of the Scottish Labour Party are wide ranging and deep. Radical solutions are needed and can only be implemented following a full, frank, open and democratic debate led by our loyal and hard working, committed party members - a centralised fix just won't do.”