The Sunday Herald is today reporting calls for a leadership challenge in Scottish Labour to remove Kezia Dugdale and open the way for a clear-out of blairite officials, to allow the unhindered growth of the movement in Scotland:
The article quotes calls by the Scottish Labour Review (SLR) for a candidate to challenge and remove Dugdale – and push further:
As Scottish Left Review called for in its last editorial, Dugdale needs to be removed by a leadership challenge. The Labour left in Scotland must quickly find a candidate to do this.
Then Iain McNicol, current general secretary of British Labour, needs to be removed as does Brian Roy, current general secretary of Scottish Labour. “Control of Labour organization through these general secretaries prevents the Corbyn current washing through the rest of the Labour Party.
Absolutely. The clinging-on of right-wingers in Scotland – and Wales – remains a dead weight dragging on the advances the Labour Party has made in those nations, even more than than in England.
Ms Dugdale’s uninspiring persona and her arguable encouragement to voters in some marginal seats to vote Tory in June did inexcusable damage to the country. Labour’s 6 gains in Scotland because of the Corbyn surge would have been far more with a Scottish leader in tune with the UK leadership.
Not only that, but her role in hindering the UK-wide party by her undemocratic presence on the Labour National Executive Committee (NEC), where she is said to have consistently voted against the interests of the massively pro-Corbyn membership, makes her removal even more urgent.
But the SLR does not, apparently, name any potential candidates. That needs to be remedied urgently so that this becomes a contest, not merely a call.
A successful challenge in Scotland could be the trigger for moves in similarly-blighted Welsh Labour and – at last – for the long-awaited challenge to Tom Watson as deputy leader that would without question sweep away the Midlands MP.
And the vast majority of Labour members will breathe easier and fight more effectively for that.
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