The Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard, is resisting intense pressure to quit after senior MSPs said the party faced “catastrophic defeat” in next year’s Holyrood elections. Two Labour frontbenchers, James Kelly, its justice spokesman, and Mark Griffin, its social security spokesman, resigned their posts on Wednesday as a rebellion over his refusal to stand down escalated.
Two other MSPs, Jenny Marra and Daniel Johnson, joined Kelly and Griffin by calling on Leonard to resign, citing Scottish Labour’s dire poll ratings and Leonard’s very low public profile seven months before the Holyrood elections. Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland on Wednesday morning, Kelly said: “I’m not prepared to sit back and look at a catastrophic defeat. “It’s totally unacceptable: we’re at 14% in the polls and more than half the public don’t have a view on the party leader. He has a negative rating among our own supporters. You can’t ignore those facts.” Leonard accused his critics of mounting “an internal war” against him and suggested many could face deselection for showing disloyalty, insisting that he would fight any challenge for the leadership. Speaking to STV, he said: “I think we need to see some new blood in here. One of the things the last few days have taught me is we need to see an injection of new voices, a more diverse profile of people. “We want some new candidates coming through so that the Scottish Labour party is represented by people who understand just what a privilege it is to be a Labour member of the Scottish parliament. “Party members will have to make a decision about whether they want to return people who have got some faith in the party’s ability to win votes and win seats next year, or whether they want to see people returned who perhaps don’t share that view.” Johnson denied trying to undermine Leonard. “We have to change leadership,” he said. “Frankly, we’re looking at a complete calamity for the Scottish Labour party.” Johnson said a significant number of MSPs agreed. After watching the SNP’s poll ratings soar to 55% over the summer, Kelly led a delegation of MSPs to see Leonard two weeks ago to urge him to stand 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 Leonard was ridiculed by Nicola Sturgeon during last week’s first minister’s questions, when she accused him of “aping the Tories”. During first minister’s questions on Wednesday, Sturgeon teased Leonard by questioning whether he would still be in post in January. With the Highlands MSP, Rhoda Grant, also supporting Leonard, Hilton tweeted that “every single Scottish Labour representative should be 100% focused on fighting the SNP and Tories, not each other”. Kelly and Johnson said they had wanted him to succeed, but after three years in charge he had failed to revive the party’s fortunes. His critics say he repeatedly failed to take their advice or suggestions for new policies. One source said their concerns were shared by the UK party, but Sir Keir Starmer, the UK leader, felt unable to involve himself in an internal matter for the Scottish party. To intervene would be seen as a sign that the party was controlled by London, thus playing into Sturgeon’s hands.