LABOUR has announced a three month-long process to choose its new leader and deputy leader with the successors to Jeremy Corbyn and Tom Watson being announced at a special conference on Saturday April 4.
Ian Murray, the party’s only Scottish MP following its landslide defeat at the General Election, will throw his hat in the ring for the deputy’s role on Tuesday with a full launch in Edinburgh next week.
The Edinburgh South MP will put defending the Union front and centre of his campaign; none of the other candidates for either role have yet mentioned Scotland or the constitution in their campaigns.
After a three-hour meeting of the National Executive Committee in London, the party decided on the rules and time-frame for the election.
The candidates for the leadership and deputy leadership will have until next Monday to secure the support of 22 MPs and MEPs.
Once they have successfully done that, they will then have until February 14 to also win the backing of either 33 Constituency Labour Parties or at least three affiliated groups, two of which must be trade unions.
Members of the public who want to become so-called "registered supporters" so that they can vote in the contest will have just a 48-hour window to do so between next Tuesday and next Thursday. They will have to pay £25 to participate; this is the same amount as in the last leadership race in 2016.
A membership "freeze date" of January 20 has also been agreed, which means that anyone joining the party after that date will not be eligible to vote in the contest.
The ballot will open on February 21 and close on April 2. The results will be announced two days later at the special conference; the venue for which is still to be announced.
A poll has placed Sir Keir Starmer as the current frontrunner to succeed Mr Corbyn; bookies also have him as the odds-on favourite. Others vying for the role are Emily Thornberry, Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips and Clive Lewis.
Rebecca Long Bailey, the Shadow Business Secretary, is yet to announce her candidacy. Mr Watson has branded her the “continuity candidate,” expressing concern that she “sort of stands for Corbynism in its purest sense and that's perfectly legitimate but we have lost two elections with that play”.
It is also thought that Ian Lavery, the party Chairman, and Dan Jarvis could also run.
Meanwhile, Angela Rayner launched her bid for the deputy leadership, saying Labour must "win or die".
The Shadow Education Secretary told supporters in Stockport Labour’s electoral coalition was "broken" in the wake of the election defeat and called on them to support her friend, Ms Long Bailey, for the leadership; another indication perhaps the Salford MP is about to announce it.
Ms Rayner is the fourth MP to enter the deputy leadership contest with fellow Shadow Cabinet members Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler as well as Khalid Mahmood, all having already declared their intention to run.
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