LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn will today visit a former Labour heartland where key figures in the party have demanded his resignation.
Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe and leading constituency party member and local election agent Alan Holliday backed Ian Murray’s exit from the shadow cabinet after the EU vote, arguing Corbyn could not provide the leadership needed to get the party into power at Westminster.
Murray’s departure from the frontbench helped spark a rebellion, a no-confidence vote in Corbyn and a leadership contest.
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Last night it was unclear whether McCabe or Holliday would meet Corbyn when he travels to the Inverclyde area this afternoon to speak to voters.
An open letter signed by the two men in June 2016 said: “The Labour Party was formed to provide a voice for working people in Parliament and to form governments that can further the interests of the majority of working people.
“It is clear that Jeremy Corbyn cannot provide that leadership.
“The Leader of the Labour Party must have the confidence of the MPs they lead in Parliament. With Tuesday’s vote of no confidence, it is clear that no longer exists ... We hear time and time again from ordinary people up and down the country that they cannot see Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.”
It added: “We need a credible, competent opposition, but Jeremy Corbyn is currently unable to fill all positions on his front bench.
“Jeremy Corbyn wants to captain a ship for which he has no crew. For the good of the party and, more importantly, the country, he must step aside.”
The Inverclyde constituency was long held by Labour until it was won by the SNP in 2015, with the party’s Ronnie Cowan narrowly holding the seat at last year’s snap General Election. It is now among the party’s key target seats where swings of less than 1% would be required to win.
Others include Glasgow East, Airdrie and Shotts, Lanark and Hamilton East, Motherwell and Wishaw, and Dunfermline and West Fife.
The Labour leader yesterday said he is “very confident” of gaining Scottish seats in the next General Election despite a recent polling slump north of the Border.
The party gained six seats in Scotland last year after plummeting to just one Scottish MP in 2015, securing 27% of the vote. However, recent opinion polls show Scottish Labour has slipped back to around 23%, in third place behind the Tories and the SNP.
Speaking as he met with Labour candidates in New Lanark, Lanarkshire, Corbyn said: “It’s very important to win in all parts of the UK.
“We want to gain seats in Scotland, we gained some in the General Election, we want to gain a lot more.
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“We’re very confident that we’re getting more and more support, more and more members being very active in the party and lots of campaigning going on. We’re very confident that we can gain seats and we can help to deliver a Labour government through Labour gains in Scotland.”
Corbyn’s tour began on Monday with a visit to a bus firm in Falkirk where he faced questions over the ongoing row over anti-Semitism, followed by an appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where he said he believes the party is facing greater hostility from the media “than we’ve probably ever had before”.
He is due to meet asylum seekers facing eviction in Glasgow this morning and will call for asylum and refugee accommodation to be taken out of the hands of private companies and transferred to public bodies.
Private provider Serco announced a rolling lock change eviction process for those not given refugee status in Glasgow last month.
The company, contracted by the Home Office, says it is paying accommodation for 330 asylum seekers in the city who have been denied the right to remain in the UK.
It has announced a pause on the plans in the face of legal challenges against the evictions at the Court of Session and Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Corbyn will be joined by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard to meet some of those affected by the evictions.
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