Jackie Baillie may stand for Labour leader

Published on Thursday 12 May 2011 18:57

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie has indicated that she could be ready to stand for the party leadership later this year.

However, the Dumbarton MSP insisted yesterday that she will wait until an internal review into the party's resounding defeat at the hands of the SNP last week is completed before announcing whether or not to stand.

Party leader Iain Gray announced that he would be quitting this autumn in the aftermath of the result which gave the Nationalists the first majority administration since devolution.

Ms Baillie said: "The party has to learn the lessons of defeat and any speculation is a distraction.

"Iain (Gray] has done the party a favour by announcing the review of our policies and structure.

"It's too premature to talk about elections. I'm not ruling myself out or in. The most appropriate time to talk about the leadership is after the review."

Ms Baillie was among the few Labour big hitters who managed to resist the swing to the Nationalists and hold on to her Dumbarton seat with a majority of 1,600.

Another was schools spokesman Ken Macintosh in Eastwood, who managed to pull off an 8 per cent swing to Labour and snatch back what was a notional Tory seat after the constituency boundaries were redrawn. He has also said he will await the review's outcome before deciding whether to stand.

Former Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy is to lead the review of the party's performance in Scotland, along with the Lothians MSP Sarah Boyack.

The leader is elected by a three-way electoral college of party members, unions and Labour parliamentarians.