Quit call MSPS underestimate me – Leonard
● Scottish Labour leader claims party’s decline is not of his making
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has dismissed calls for him to resign and said rebellious MSPS had “underestimated my resolve”.
Pressure has been building on Mr Leonard after the resignation of his justice spokesman James Kelly and calls for his resignation from disgruntled MSPS and Labour peers, with the party still third in polls.
Richard Leonard dismissed calls for him to resign as leader of Scottish Labour and said rebellious MSPS had “underestimated my resolve”.
Pressure has been building o n Mr L e o n a rd f o r t he l a s t week, sparked by the resignation of his justice spokesman James Kelly and compounded by calls for his own resignation from disgruntled MSPS and Labour peers.
However, speaking on Sky News’ programme Ridge on Sunday, the MSP for central S cotland said the decline of the Labour par t y was a long term problem and not one of his making.
R e c e n t p o l l s s e e S c o t t i s h Lab our sitting comfor tably third behind the Scottish Conservatives and a huge distance b e h i n d t h e S N P j u s t e i g h t months out from the Scottish Parliament elections.
Mr Leonard said he had a “strong mandate” to lead Scottish Labour and said he understood concern at the decline of the once - dominant par t y but added it “has been part of a long-term trend”.
He said: “I think those peo - p l e wh o h ave b e e n c a l l i n g this week for me to step down h ave u n d e r e s t i ma t e d b o t h my r e s o l v e a n d t h e m a n - date that I got from the memb ers of the S cottish Lab our party.
“Prior to my election as the leader just under three years ago we had had five leaders of the S cottish Labour part y in six years and so the mandate that I was given by the members when they convincingly elected me to be leader was to campaign on a radical agenda but it was also to be the leader of the S cottish Labour par t y going into the May 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.”
When asked about the position of the part y in the polls, Mr Leonard said the decline of Scottish Labour was “part o f a l o n g - t e r m t r e n d ” b u t c l a i me d t h e p a n d e mi c h a d “really changed the dial of politics” and was moving people’s attention away from constitutional questions.
He added: “When I inherited the par t y it was in third place, it is still in third place. We’ve got an opportunity here to start to make real progress and rest assured I will be campaigning for ever y seat as we go into the elections next year.
“I will be touring the country over the next few months speaking to people about the jobs crisis, about what we need to do to solve the youth unemployment spike that we are likely to face.”
M r L e o n a r d d e c l i n e d t o a n s w e r w h e t h e r a n S N P m a j o r i t y n e x t y e a r s h o u l d be considered a mandate for another independence referendum, but said the Scottish Government’s focus should be on recovery from the impact of the pandemic.