Scottish Labour leadership at odds over Jeremy Corbyn's future
Divisions in the Labour Party have spread to Scotland, with deputy leader Alex Rowley lining up against leader Kezia Dugdale to back Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the UK party.
Divisions in the Labour Party have spread to Scotland, with deputy leader Alex Rowley lining up against leader Kezia Dugdale to back Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the UK party.
Mr Rowley insists the 172 Labour MPs who have "launched a coup" against Mr Corbyn have wrongly dismissed him as "weak" and must now put their views aside to "protect the country".
More than half of Labour's 23 MSPs have backed Ms Dugdale's remarks that she would "consider her position" if she were in Mr Corbyn's place.
Mr Rowley, a close ally of former prime minister Gordon Brown, said "it seemed obvious the Tories were finished" after Brexit, in a statement released on Friday.
He said: "It was therefore with complete dismay over the following days that I witnessed Labour MPs and Labour people blame Jeremy Corbyn, and launch a coup against his leadership."
Mr Rowley said SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon "is right" to say the Tories no longer "have any credibility in suggesting that they are the party of economic stability or even the party of the United Kingdom".
"The Labour Party should have been speaking up for our country (but) instead we now look even weaker and more divided than the Tories," he said.
"Even if those within the Labour Party who think Corbyn's leadership is weak were right - I personally don't think they are - they had an obligation to the country to put their views aside to address the immediate crisis."
He said Scotland voted to Remain in the EU and "every option must be explored" to protect its interests.
Mr Rowley concluded: "I plead to all MPs, especially Labour, to face up to the immediate challenges our countries in the UK are facing, leave the internal party politics at the door and unite to find a way through the economic, social and constitutional crisis the UK now finds itself in."
On Thursday, Mr Rowley signed a joint statement with Labour left-wingers Neil Findlay and Richard Leonard affirming that "Jeremy Corbyn was democratically-elected as leader of the Labour Party with almost 60% of members supporting him" and upholding "the democratic rights of Labour Party members and support the democratically-elected leader".
However, 13 Labour MSPs have lined up against Mr Corbyn.
A joint statement, which included the signatures of former Scottish Labour leaders Iain Gray and Johann Lamont and former deputy leader Anas Sarwar, said Labour must "provide an effective voice for working people in communities, council chambers, assemblies and parliaments across the UK".
"As Kezia Dugdale rightly said, if she could not command the confidence of 80% of her Labour group, then she would consider her position," they said.
"For the good of the party and, more importantly, the country, we believe Jeremy Corbyn, who is a principled man, must do the right thing and allow the party to once again provide effective opposition and regroup as a credible party of government."