Fresh pressure for Jim Murphy to quit leadership

JIM Murphy is facing a fresh attempt to oust him as Scottish Labour leader after members of the party’s ruling body were urged to call on him to quit at a crunch meeting this Saturday.

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy. Picture: John Devlin

A message of “Jim Murphy Must Go” is included in a letter being sent to all the members of the Scottish Labour executive ahead of a meeting on Saturday, when the party leader could face a vote of no confidence.

The letter from Labour activists and organised by the left wing Campaign for Socialism said that Mr Murphy had failed to take responsibility for his role in last week’s election, when the party lost 40 of its 41 seats north of the border.

Mr Murphy has already faced calls to quit from major unions such as Unite and Unison, with two members of his frontbench - Neil Findlay and Alex Rowley - quitting their roles.

Vince Mills, chair of the Campaign for Socialism, said members’s of Scottish Labour’s executive should call on Mr Murphy, who lost his East Renfrewshire seat last week, to “put the party first” and quit at Saturday’s meeting.

Mr Mills said: “There is clear dismay right across the party that Jim Murphy is failing to take responsibility for his role in Thursday’s near wipeout and go. “No-one suggests that Jim Murphy is the only problem Labour has, or that all the blame lies with him.

“But it’s also obvious that without his departure it will be difficult to reconnect with the electorate, or have the sort of searching and wider-ranging discussions about the way forward we so obviously need.”

“We are asking members of the Scottish Executive to put the party first, insist Jim Murphy quits and not be bullied into a continuation of a situation that will only bring further failure for Labour.”