Matheson enters the fray in contest as two MSPs join the battle for party’s deputy leadership

GLASGOW council leader Gordon Matheson has put himself forward as a candidate for the Scottish Labour deputy leadership, as MSPs Alex Rowley and Richard Baker also threw their hats into the ring.

Meanwhile, finance spokeswoman Jackie Baillie, seen at the weekend as a frontrunner, and Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe, who was also considering running, are believed to have ruled themselves out of the race.

More than three-quarters of MSPs have backed Kezia Dugdale for the leadership, while her opponent, Ken Mackintosh, is also standing for the top job.

Labour politicians have until Friday to declare themselves in the running for either job, with the first hustings due to take place on Monday next week.

Ms Dugdale is widely seen as the frontrunner for the leadership, however Mr Mackintosh, who won the members’ vote when he stood in 2011, will be encouraged by the one-member, one-vote system that will be used for the first time as part of reforms put forward by Jim Murphy before he resigned at the weekend.

The left-wing Campaign For Socialism group, which publicly opposed Mr Murphy’s leadership following Labour’s catastrophic General Election defeat at the hands of the SNP, yesterday hit out at the changes he forced through.

It claimed the party’s executive committee, which voted through the reforms, had ignored resolutions from local party branches and called for a special conference to discuss procedures and messaging in the run-up to next year’s Holyrood election. Under the reforms, MSPs will no longer automatically retain their places on party lists. Those who wish to vote in the leadership elections can do so for £3 if they register as party supporters.

MSP Elaine Smith, convener of the Campaign For Socialism, said: “Jim was rightly on his way out, he cannot now be the person to shape and dictate what the party does next.”

It was also claimed that leaked documents had revealed Scottish Labour have fewer than 13,000 members. Mr Murphy had claimed the figure was “about 20,000”. The SNP have more than 110,000 members, while the Scottish Greens boast about 9,000.

SNP business convener Derek Mackay MSP said: “This is an embarrassment for the people who are meant to be in charge.”