SCOTLAND’S most successful Labour MP is facing a move to deselect him led by the trade union closest to Jeremy Corbyn.
The leadership of Unite in Scotland tonight voted in favour of opening up the selection contest in Edinburgh South in order to remove Ian Murray, a vocal critic of Mr Corbyn.
Mr Murray was the only Labour MP to survive the SNP tsunami of 2015 and now has the largest majority of any MP in Scotland, winning by 15,514 votes in 2017.
However if Unite can muster enough union support in his branch, he will face a “trigger ballot” and have to prove he is the best candidate for the seat.
It is understood Mr Murray is the only one of Scotland’s seven Labour MPs opposed by Unite.
Unite’s UK general secretary is Mr Corbyn’s close ally Len McCluskey.
Incumbent MPs are automatically reselected unless a third of local members or union affiliates demand an open selection.
Mr Murray said: "It is disappointing that in the week where I’m leading the People’s Vote campaign in Scotland and working around the clock to maintain the cross-party coalition that's defeating Boris Johnson disastrous Brexit in order to protect workers' jobs and rights, that this is Unite's priority. My constituents are my priority and I won't be distracted from fighting for them."
Despite his winning record in Edinburgh South, Mr Murray has made himself unpopular with the Labour leadership by attacking Mr Corbyn and promoting a second EU referendum.
He quit as Shadow Scottish Secretary after the 2016 vote saying Mr Corbyn “just can’t lead the Labour Party and I don’t think the public think he can be Prime Minister”.
A prominent Unionist, Mr Murray has also accused Mr Corbyn of being “all over the place” on working with the SNP.
He was also a friend and supporter of former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who also got on the wrong side of the UK Labour leader's circle.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel