Stalwart is ‘ashamed’ to put Labour on leaf lets
LABOUR’S longest-serving Scottish MP was accused of being ‘ashamed’ of his own party yesterday after failing to mention it on his election campaign materials.
Ian Murray, who is bidding to retain Edinburgh South, dropped the word ‘Labour’ from a mail-out to his constituents.
It comes after a poll published last week suggested the party has now fallen behind the Liberal Democrats into fourth place in Scotland.
Mr Murray has been one of Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest critics over his approach to Brexit and the issue of a second independence referendum.
In 2017, he secured a massive 15,000 majority after successfully targeting pro-Union voters.
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: ‘It’s no wonder Ian Murray is ashamed to use the L-word on his leaflets.
‘The link would turn off a huge number of people who voted for him previously.
‘But if Ian Murray is so ashamed to represent Labour, he should quit and stand as an independent.’
In his election leaflet, Mr Murray uses a graph showing the vote share for the SNP, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the 2017 election – then only credits the winning tally of 26,269 to himself, and no mention of Labour.
He tells constituents the election is ‘a choice between me, your local representative, and the SNP’.
The flyer also fails to mention Mr Corbyn but includes an endorsement from the People’s Vote campaign, which is campaigning for a rerun of the 2016 EU referendum.
The front page of the leaflet also states Mr Murray is ‘backed by Best for Britain’ – another pro-EU group.
A YouGov poll published on Friday suggested that Labour could be heading for its worst General Election result in Scotland in more than 100 years. The survey of 11,500 voters across the UK, including 1,060 in Scotland, showed Labour’s support north of the Border has slumped from 27 per cent in 2017 to 12 per cent now.
Mr Murray said: ‘This leaflet outlines why I’m campaigning against a divisive second independence referendum and why I’ve been leading Labour’s campaign to remain in the EU, as well as talking about my heroes like former Labour leader John Smith and my mum, and my involvement in saving Hearts Football Club.’
Labour’s election campaign in Scotland has been beset by controversies about candidates and the party’s position on a second independence referendum.
The party will today pledge to create a new ‘social contract’ with Scotland’s military veteran community – including a fund to compensate veterans of nuclear tests from the 1950s onwards.
It will also pledge to guarantee access to specialist physical and mental health services for veterans across Scotland, introduce measures to prevent homelessness among the veteran community and build specific provisions to help veterans into work.
‘Quit and stand as an independent’