JACKIE Baillie is likely to be elected unopposed as Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, with Anas Sarwar unlikely to stand for the post, The National can reveal.
It is understood that as the party licks its wounds after the General Election defeat there is little appetite for a contest less than 18 months away from the next Holyrood election and while the UK party undertakes to elect both a new leader and deputy.
Sarwar is also said to be focussed on his role as a Glasgow MSP for which he has won considerable praise both inside and outside the party by highlighting problems at the city’s new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
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A public inquiry is expected to look at how the design, handover and maintenance contributed to ineffective infection control at the £842 million complex which opened in 2015.
Lesley Laird stood down as Scottish Labour’s deputy leader after losing her seat to Neale Hanvey, who was suspended by the SNP after he posted antisemitic comments on social media. Hanvey, who won by 1243 votes, will sit as an independent MP until a disciplinary process concludes.
Baillie is currently the chair of Scottish Labour’s Holyrood parliamentary group and is highly regarded for her work as a constituency MSP – recently spearheading a successful campaign for two cystic fibrosis drugs to be made available to patients on the NHS.
She is also well respected across the political parties at Holyrood as one of the few MSPs who has consistently been a MSP since 1999.
Should the Dumbarton MSP be anointed as Scottish Labour’s deputy it will be the second time in a row the party has not had a contest for the post after Laird was elected unopposed to the post in 2017.
Laird was among six Scottish MPs to lose her seat at this month’s General Election, leaving the party with a single MP in Scotland, Edinburgh South’s Ian Murray.
Days after the devastating defeat the party’s ruling body decided to carry out an “evidence-based” review of the election campaign and result saying this was “in order to chart our way forward”.
A key goal will be to have a clearer policy on Brexit and independence after many felt the lack of clarity on both haemorrhaged the party votes on December 12.
Announcing the review Leonard said at the time: “We will lead a public engagement campaign to establish why voters who are clearly still desperate for change no longer feel that Scottish Labour is the vehicle for the realisation of that change. We must develop a clear constitutional offer that wins back the confidence of voters who in this election felt that we did not offer clarity over Scotland’s future.”
Following the election defeat a number of senior party figures – including Cosla president Alison Evison, health spokeswoman Monica Lennon and former MP Ged Killen – said Labour should back second independence referendum.
Pointing to the need to win back voters ahead of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, some in the party believe there should be a full-blown contest for the deputy post.
“We are going into a phase now of debate and renewal. We are supposed to be having an open mind and show we are prepared to listen so I think it would be good if more people come forward and there is a contest,” one insider told The National.
“Most people would probably accept that Labour’s current difficulties precede this election. The Labour party in Scotland has been struggling for many many years now and we need to have an honest debate about that."
Jeremy Corbyn is to stand down as UK Labour leader once his successor is elected. The UK deputy post is currently vacant with Murray considering standing. The contests are due to begin in January with the results likely to be announced in March.
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