Sarwar to stand as Scots Labour fast-track leadership poll
Scottish Labour will elect a new leader next month with frontrunner Anas Sarwar expected to launch his campaign to be the party’s chief tomorrow.
He is the frontrunner to replace Richard Leonard who quit on Thursday, just four months before the next Holyrood election.
The party’s Scottish executive committee met yesterday to fast-track the process for electing a new leader. The winner will be party’s seventh leader in 14
years and will be tasked with reversing years of decline that has seen Labour trail third in the polls to the SNP and Scottish Conservatives.
Mr Sarwar, a Glasgow MSP and former MP, was previously defeated by Mr Leonard in the party’s last leadership election four years ago.
He is expected to announce his decision to stand today and launch his campaign tomorrow.
A source close to Mr Sarwar said: “Anas has received support from across the Labour movement and is recognised as the leader who can rebuild our party and work to heal our country.”
MSP Monica Lennon, who successfully introduced a bill to tackle period poverty in Scotland, is also said to be considering putting herself forward for the top job, while interim leader Jackie Baillie is understood to have ruled herself out of the contest.
Candidates have until midnight tonight to declare their intention to run and will require support from at least four of the party’s MSPS or its sole Scottish MP Ian Murray by midday on Tuesday to be nominated.
Scottish Labour members and affiliated supporters will be able to cast their votes from February 9 until ballots close on February 26. The new leader will then be announced a day later.
Scottish Labour chairwoman Cara Hilton said the new leader would guide the party into May’s election “to carry Labour’s message and take the fight to the Tories and SNP”.
Former Labour First Minister Henry Mcleish said the party had to consider changing its position on the constitutional future of the country. He said: “Let’s change the narrative by saying we will welcome a referendum on the future of Scotland, but offering an alternative, which is to reconstruct the union of the United Kingdom, which is not fit for purpose and is in peril.”
The party’s Scottish executive committee considered but ruled out having an interim leader until after May’s Holyrood election, followed by a leadership contest.
areas of the entertainment world closer to home. Roddy, who also presents music shows for Radio Scotland, said: “We’ve done film, we’re in TV land at the moment and we’re working on another couple of exciting musical projects for the next year or so. We’ve had an amazing run. We’ve been really lucky and have enjoyed putting a lot of work into this new chapter in our career. It’s basically what dreams are made of.”
While both musicians refuse to rule out a return to the singer-songwriter circuit, they’re following the unexpected momentum their careers have garnered across the Pond. “When Tommy and I started working together a light went on and we realised we were good at working to a brief,” said Roddy.
“It’s a tough landscape out there for artists. Sometimes things go your way and when they do you follow that. It’s kind of saved us in a way – we had a purpose and studio and we do all the hours a project demands. It feels like the next chapter in my life. I’m loving working as part of this massive machine.”
Roddy Hart and The Lonesome Fire’s Roaming Roots Revue sees them collaborate live with special guests including Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil, Deacon Blue’s Lorraine Mcintosh and Ricky Ross, and singer Rachel Sermanni. The concert, to be streamed online on Saturday, January 30, is themed on songs of survival. Tickets from celticconnections.com