PRESSURE ON LABOUR LEADER AS McCONNELL REVEALS HE WILL STAND AGAIN

PRESSURE ON LABOUR LEADER AS McCONNELL REVEALS HE WILL STAND AGAIN

”WHISPERING CAMPAIGN AGAINST GRAY CAN ONLY GET LOUDER”

Following the news that former Holyrood Labour leader Jack McConnell is to seek re-election as an MSP in 2011, SNP MSP Christina McKelvie has highlighted the “leadership vacuum” under Iain Gray.

One Labour MSP close to Mr McConnell is quoted as saying: “I’m sure he thinks he could do a better job than Gray. If he thought it was there for the taking, could he resist it?” (Sunday Herald).

Jack McConnell was forced to resign following defeat in 2007 to the SNP – Labour’s first defeat in Scotland for 50 years.

Commenting, Ms McKelvie said:

“The whispering campaign against Iain Gray can only get louder with the news that Jack McConnell is standing again. Iain Gray must have choked on his cornflakes when he read that unwelcome news in his morning papers.

“Jack McConnell lead Labour to defeat for the first time in 50 years in Scotland – which Iain Gray repeated when the SNP won the European election in Scotland this year. And already, last Thursday’s Bo’ness by-election – where the SNP’s vote increased by 10 points on the May 2007 high water mark – shows that Glasgow North East was another false dawn for Labour in Scotland.

“Jack McConnell’s other career plans have bitten the dust, yet despite his record of defeat to the SNP he is still seen as a more effective leader than Iain Gray, which says it all.

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

“The SNP are delivering strong, effective and popular government in Scotland. Well over two years after entering opposition, the Labour Party can still not muster an effective or coherent opposition – or even settle on a leader.”