Under-fire Labour leader rings changes with reshuffle

Published on Tuesday 27 October 2009 21:30

THE Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has announced a shadow cabinet reshuffle in an attempt to turn around his party's fortunes, as he faced more questions about his leadership.

Rhona Brankin has quit as shadow education secretary for family reasons, while Cathy Jamieson has lost the high-profile health portfolio but remains in charge of housing and regeneration.

The shake-up comes as Mr Gray faces internal criticism, with some colleagues saying privately he is not proving to be an inspiring enough leader to mount a strong challenge to Alex Salmond.

His performance was under scrutiny once more yesterday when the former Labour first minister Henry McLeish claimed Labour had failed to expose the shortcomings of the SNP's independence policy.

Against that background, Mr Gray attempted to beef up his front-bench team by promoting Jackie Baillie to shadow health secretary in the hope she will prove more effective at taking on Nicola Sturgeon.

Ms Brankin has been replaced by Des McNulty, who has been given the task of opposing Fiona Hyslop, the embattled education secretary.

The local government portfolio has been taken away from Andy Kerr, leaving him free to concentrate on his role as the shadow finance and economy minister.

Michael MacMahon, Labour's former business manager, becomes local government spokesman. Paul Martin, the son of the recently ennobled former House of Commons speaker Lord Martin of Springburn, takes over as business manager.

John Park, seen as a driving force behind Labour's comprehensive victory in the Glenrothes by-election, has moved from his economy and skills role to take on a new elections and campaigns portfolio. He remains in the shadow cabinet.

Johann Lamont (chief of staff and equalities), Richard Baker (justice), Sarah Boyack (environment), Pauline McNeill (culture and constitution) and David Stewart (chief whip) continue in their posts.

The splitting up Ms Jamieson's and Mr Kerr's former responsibilities means the shadow cabinet had increased from 11 members to 13.

Labour said removing health from Ms Jamieson's responsibilities was part of their strategy to step up their attack on an SNP housing policy, under which the housing budget has fallen by 200 million.

Mr Gray's announcement came shortly after Mr McLeish criticised Labour for not coming up with a strategy to counter the SNP's independence policy. In an article for Holyrood magazine, he said there was a "culture of denial" over the SNP's 2007 election win that could keep Labour out of power for a generation.

Mr Gray said: "If Henry really thinks that the most important thing on the minds of voters in Glasgow North East, for example, is the constitutional question, then I'm afraid it's Henry who is in denial."