RICHARD Leonard will face a confidence vote at Scottish Labour’s ruling body tomorrow, it has been confirmed.
The beleaguered leader, who is struggling to contain a mutiny by his MSPs, will be urged to stand down at the party’s Scottish Executive Committee (SEC).
The Daily Record reported the no confidence motion has been signed by around a third of the members of the SEC, which includes politicians, trade unionists and representatives of the grassroots membership.
It follows four of Mr Leonard’s MSPs publicly calling on him to stand down last week amid dire opinion poll figures for the party and him personally.
James Kelly, Jenny Marra, Daniel Johnson and Mark Griffin warned Mr Leonard would take Scottisbh Labour to “catastrophe” in next May’s Holyrood election.
Four Labour peers have also called on Mr Leonard to go.
Scottish Labour is currently at 14 per cent in the polls, putting it on course to lose six of the 24 MSPs it won in 2016.
It lost both its MEPs and six of its MPs in elections last year.
More than half of Scots also say they are unable to judge Mr Leonard’s performance because they know so little about him, despite him becoming leader in November 2017.
However Mr Leonard has refused to budge and threatened the rebels with deselection, calling their action “despicable”.
His supporters, including Scottish Labour general secretary Michael Sharpe, have also argue the party’s rules do not allow a challenge to a sitting Scottish leader.
Responding to news of tomorrow’s vote, Mr Leonard said: "The last thing Labour supporters and those we need to win back want to see is a party turning in on itself.
"A lot of these people are not mandated by their organisations to vote in this way.
"That exposes how this is motivated by faction and that this is an entirely factional move
"They have nothing to say or offer, no ideas, no plan to protect jobs and living standards against the backdrop of the Covid crisis.
"That is what I want us to concentrate on: the real struggle the people of Scotland are in."
Rejecting Mr Leonard's attack on the SEC rebels, a party source said: "These are ordinary members who do this as volunteers. Richard is the only person scorching the party in order to keep his job and he should apologise to members for his intemperate party."
No challenger has yet to come forward against Mr Leonard.
However Glasgow MSP Anas Sarwar, who lost the leadership contest against Mr Leonard in 2017, is seen as the most likely contender.
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