Ed Miliband is facing growing criticism from party members in Scotland over the type of inquiry he has ordered into the reasons for last week’s disastrous Holyrood election defeat.
The Labour leader is being accused by senior figures in the Scottish party of setting up a top-down, Westminster-led inquiry which, they say, effectively sidelines both Labour’s ruling Scottish executive and the party membership north of the Border.
The deep unhappiness in the Scottish party about the way that the inquiry was set up and is being conducted is certain to surface at a meeting of the Scottish executive today at which the party’s crushing election defeat is said to be on the agenda.
There were indications last night that some members of the executive may even attempt to expand the inquiry’s terms of reference to include the Scottish party’s wider membership.
The row began when it was reported that three Scottish MPs at Westminster — Jim Murphy, the former Scottish Secretary, Ann McKechin, the Shadow Scottish Secretary and Anne McGuire, Mr Miliband’s parliamentary aide — would take the leading roles in the inquiry into what went wrong.
However, it later emerged that while Mr Murphy would indeed co-chair the inquiry, he would be joined as co-chair by Sarah Boyack, elected last week as a Lothian regional list MSP.
Allies of Mr Miliband claim that it was never the intention to have three MPs heading the inquiry and that there had not been any change of heart. But senior figures in the party in Scotland say privately that they do not wholly accept this explanation.
One source said: “The whole thing was a cack-handed attempt to take the inquiry away from the party in Scotland and, although Sarah has now been appointed, people are absolutely furious about the way this has been handled by the leadership in London.”
Another said: “The absolute priority for the Scottish executive today is to ensure that any review that takes place genuinely involves all party members in Scotland and not just a small coterie. Any review that is seen as a UK-led one will have shot itself in the head.”
Last week’s election marked a new low for Scottish Labour with their share of the overall vote falling for the third Holyrood election in a row. They ended up with only 37 seats, 22 behind the SNP who gained an overall majority. Iain Gray, the Scottish Labour leader, later said that he would stand down from the post in the autumn.
One ally of Mr Miliband said last night that alarm about the inquiry was understandable. He added: “I do think though that at the end of [the] executive, there will be agreement that the inquiry should go ahead.”
Meanwhile, speculation that Mr Murphy might heed calls from party colleagues to become leader of the Scottish party looks wide of the mark.
Senior colleagues of the MP for East Renfrewshire say that his real interest lies in remaining at Westminster. “He is not interested in coming to Holyrood to take on Alex Salmond. He’s not interested in becoming First Minister,” said one. Others pointed out that it would look odd if the person heading the “root-and-branch” inquiry into the Scottish party’s abject performance last week then went on to become Scottish party leader after it had reported.
With no sign of any Labour MSP at Holyrood making moves to succeed Mr Gray, however, the option of having an MP as leader has not been ruled out entirely. Such a solution was followed by the SNP in 2004 when Alex Salmond returned as party leader. He remained an MP, with Nicola Sturgeon leading the party at Holyrood, until 2007 when he became an MSP.
Willie Rennie is expected to be appointed as the Scottish Lib Dems’ leader at Holyrood after the resignation of Tavish Scott last weekend.
via Revolt grows over Labour’s inquiry into Holyrood rout | The Times.