“WHISPERING CAMPAIGN AGAINST LABOUR LEADER JUST GOT LOUDER”

McLEISH PILES PRESSURE ON GRAY LEADERSHIP IN HOLYROOD ARTICLE – CHANGE NEEDED OR LABOUR OUT OF POWER FOR GENERATION

“WHISPERING CAMPAIGN AGAINST LABOUR LEADER JUST GOT LOUDER”

Following comments from “senior Labour sources” in the Mail on Sunday yesterday attacking Labour’s “leadership vacuum” under Iain Gray, Michael Matheson MSP has pointed to the article by former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish in today’s Holyrood magazine who writes that “things have to change”, otherwise the situation could become “disastrous” leaving “Labour out of power for a generation”.

Mr Matheson said:

“The whispering campaign against Iain Gray’s beleaguered leadership just got louder.

“Senior Labour sources are briefing the media that there is a ‘leadership vacuum’ at the top of Labour in Scotland, and that Iain Gray has got no ideas, no momentum, and no visibility.

“And now a former Labour First Minister is writing that ‘things have to change’, or the situation could become ‘disastrous’, leaving Labour out of power in Scotland ‘for a generation’.

“Labour were voted out of office in Scotland in 2007 because of the failure of the Labour-led Executive – and according to their own senior members they are clearly failing as an opposition.

“For Iain Gray, it truly is the case that his political opponents sit on the benches opposite – and his political enemies sit behind him.

“The SNP are delivering strong, effective and popular government in Scotland – with a rapid pace of policy delivery and a commanding poll lead. Well over two years after the election, Labour still cannot muster themselves as a coherent opposition - with the knives out for Iain Gray barely a year into his leadership."