AFTER Richard Leonard survived four Scottish Labour MSPs calling on him to resign yesterday, it seems his position is not yet stable as figures from the Westminster party join in.
Rachel Reeves, a member of Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet, told the Scottish Labour leader to “consider his position” during an interview this morning.
Leonard’s MSPs warned him yesterday that polling figures do not look positive for the party at next year’s Holyrood election, and they do not believe he is capable of turning their fortunes around.
Echoing those comments, Reeves pointed to “dire” polling for Scottish Labour and said the MSP should do “what he thinks is right”.
READ MORE: Richard Leonard faces civil war as Labour MSPs revolt over his leadership
Scottish Labour are on track to gain just 14% of the vote next year, while Leonard has already overseen a series of poor election results during his leadership.
Recent YouGov polling also revealed more than half of Scots voters have no opinion of him.
Yesterday James Kelly resigned from Leonard’s shadow cabinet and called for him to go, sparking similar calls across the party.
Mark Griffin, Jenny Marra and Daniel Johnson all called on Leonard to step down – but the leader has vowed to stay in place.
Reeves, who is the shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and shadow Cabinet Office minister, said on Sky News: “I think that Richard Leonard needs to think about his position. The opinion polls in Scotland are pretty dire for Labour, we’ve got important elections next year, but those are decisions for Scottish Labour.
“I think he needs to consider his position and do what he thinks is right for Scotland and for Scottish Labour.”
It was reported last month that Starmer has lost confidence in Leonard, but the MSP strenuously denied this.
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