No room for Dugdale or Rowley in Labour team
Kezia Dugdale and Alex Rowley have been left out of Richard Leonard’s Scottish Labour front bench team.
More than four weeks after he was elected Scottish Labour leader, Mr Leonard finally announced a senior team but could find no place for the party’s former leader or deputy leader.
The new-look team saw the elevation of five MSPS to the front bench including the prominent left-winger Neil Findlay, who becomes responsible for Brexit, campaigns and party engagement.
Euwithdrawalcomeswithin Mr Findlay’s portfolio despite his Eurosceptic background. Mr Findlay has admitted that he was a reluctant Remain voter in the EU referendum.
Promoted to the front bench is the left-winger Elaine Smith, who voted for Brexit in the EU referendum. She becomes responsible for the eradication of poverty and inequality. Other newcomers are Monica Lennon, who becomes responsible for communities, social security and equalities and Colin Smyth, spokesman for rural economy and connectivity.
Daniel Johnson moves to justice while Mr Leonard’s rival for the leadership, Anas Sarwar, retains the health brief. Similarly Jackie Baillie remains at economy, jobs and fair work and Iain Gray stays at education, skills and science. Claudia Beamish remains at environment, climate change and land reform.
At the weekend Mr Rowley said he was resigning as Scottish Labour deputy leader. He
0 New Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard unveils his new team had been suspended while an internal party investigation was carried into claims by a former girlfriend that he had harassed her by sending abusive text messages. The inquiry discharged the investigation after the complainant refused to co-operate fully with it.
Ms Dugdale has been issued with a written warning from the party after jetting off to Australia to take part in I’m a Celebrity...get Me Out of Here during parliamentary time.
Mr Leonard said: “I met both Alex and Kezia and we decided they didn’t want to play a front line role at this time in the Labour Party.
“But I have got a really talented team of people, who can drive forward that Labour message who are going to be part of a team that is advocating real change, a distinctive Scottish Labour message and one that I think is already appealing to the people of Scotland.”
Other members of the team include Lesley Laird MP, who is interim leader; Rhoda Grant who becomes business manager and equality spokesperson and James Kelly, who will look after finance and the constitution. Claire Baker moves from justice to culture, tourism and external affairs, taking over from Lewis Macdonald who leaves the front bench.
The SNP’S George Adam claimed Mr Findlay was a “rampant Eurosceptic” and his appointment showed Labour was “incapable” of standing up for Scotland’s interests.