Latest post on Left Futures

Nominations close in Scottish Labour leadership election

Nominations closed today in the contest for Leader and Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour, with three valid candidates for each contest Johann Lamont is narrowly ahead in nominations for the Leadership and both she and Davidson have also got the backing of the GMB, although Anas Sarwar is well ahead in nominations for the deputy position.

The leadership candidates (with the number of nominations they received from MPs, MSPs and MEPs in brackets) are Tom Harris MP (12), Johann Lamont MSP (27) and Ken Macintosh MSP (26), and for the deputy leadership candidates are Ian Davidson MP (11), Lewis Macdonald MSP (13) and Anas Sarwar MP (44). Elaine Murray MSP is no longer in the running for deputy.

Although Johann Lamont is the current deputy leader, that is no guarantee of success in the leadership contest. Back in 2008 when Ian ray was elected Leader, he beat the then Deputy Cathy Jamieson who is now a Westminster MP. However, as the candidate most associated with the Left, she should expect to perform best in the trade union section, where she now has the backing of the GMB, and should be regerded as the candidate most likely to win. Tom Harris has no support amongst MSPs and looks likely to be eliminated. To win, Ken Macintosh, although still the bookies’ favourite, would need to win most of Harris’s transfers and perform well amongst party members to outweigh Lamont’s likely trade union lead.

In the race for deputy leader, Anas Sawar has a very strong lead which may prove unassailable. However, this does rest on his overwhelming lead amongst Westminster MPs. He may not be able to replicate this in other sections, so the supporting nominations may give a different indication.

Today, GMB Scotland secretary Harry Donaldson also  announced that Johann Lamont and Ian Davidson had the backing of the GMB. He said:

These are the two candidates best equipped to win back the support of working people in Scotland to Labour because they will move Scottish Labour closer to working people. Both have a good track record of campaigning with GMB in the past. GMB want to build on that for the future. We hope that GMB Scotland members back our lead but we are a democratic organisation and it will ultimately be up to our members to decide.

The detailed nominations are as follows:


Leader of the Scottish Labour Party

Johann Lamont MSP
nominated by
Ken Macintosh MSP
nominated by
Tom Harris MP
nominated by
Members of the Scottish Parliament
Jackie Baillie
Richard Baker
Claudia Beamish
Sarah Boyack
Malcolm Chisholm
Helen Eadie
Patricia Ferguson
Neil Findlay
James Kelly
Hanzala Malik
Johann Lamont
Paul Martin
Anne McTaggart
Siobhan McMahon
Duncan McNeil
Elaine Murray
John Pentland
Drew Smith
Elaine Smith
Dave Stewart

Members of Parliament
Katy Clark
Cathy Jamieson
Jim McGovern
Sandra Osborne
Fiona O’Donnell
Michael Connarty
Jim Sheridan

Members of the Scottish Parliament
Claire Baker
Neil Bibby
Kezia Dugdale
Mary Fee
Mark Griffin
Ken Macintosh
Margaret McCulloch
Margaret McDougall
Jenny Marra
Michael McMahon
John Park
Graeme Pearson
Richard Simpson

Members of Parliament
Willie Bain
Gordon Banks
Russell Brown
Alistair Darling
Thomas Docherty
Brian Donohoe
Frank Doran
Gemma Doyle
Mark Lazarowicz
Anne McGuire
Jim Murphy
Frank Roy

Members of the European Parliament
Catherine Stihler

Members of Parliament
Douglas Alexander
Anne Begg
Sheila Gilmore
Tom Greatrex
Tom Harris
Eric Joyce
Michael McCann
Ann McKechin
Iain McKenzie
Ian Murray
Pamela Nash
John Robertson

Members of the European Parliament
David Martin


Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party

Anas Sarwar MP
nominated by
Lewis Macdonald MSP
nominated by
Ian Davidson MP
nominated by
Members of the Scottish Parliament
Jackie Baillie
Claire Baker
Neil Bibby
Claudia Beamish
Patricia Ferguson
Mark Griffin
James Kelly
Hanzala Malik
Paul Martin
Siobhan McMahon
Duncan McNeil
Anne McTaggart
John Park
Graeme Pearson
John Pentland
Drew Smith
Kezia Dugdale
Jenny Marra
Michael McMahon

Members of Parliament
Douglas Alexander
Willie Bain
Gordon Banks
Russell Brown
Tom Clarke
Alistair Darling
Thomas Docherty
Gemma Doyle
Sheila Gilmore
Tom Greatrex
Jim Hood
Cathy Jamieson
Eric Joyce
Mark Lazarowicz
Iain McKenzie
Gregg McClymont
Michael McCann
Anne McGuire
Jim Murphy
Ian Murray
Pamela Nash
Fiona O’Donnell
Frank Roy
Anas Sarwar

Members of the European Parliament
Catherine Stihler

Members of the Scottish Parliament
Richard Baker
Malcolm Chisholm
Mary Fee
Helen Eadie
Lewis Macdonald
Margaret McCulloch
Margaret McDougall
Elaine Murray
Richard Simpson
Dave Stewart

Members of Parliament
Anne Begg
Frank Doran
Tom Harris

Members of the Scottish Parliament
Neil Findlay
Elaine Smith

Members of Parliament
Brian Donohoe
Katy Clark
Michael Connarty
Ian Davidson
Jim McGovern
Sandra Osborne
John Robertson
Jim Sheridan

Members of the European Parliament
David Martin

Hustings are now due to take place as follows:

Date Title Location
Friday 18 November, 19:00 Ethnic Minority Hustings Glasgow
Saturday 19 November, 11:00 Youth & Student Hustings Glasgow
Sunday 20 November, 14:30 Aberdeen Hustings Aberdeen
Tuesday 22 November, 19:00 Edinburgh Hustings Edinburgh
Friday 25 November, 19:00 Inverness Hustings Inverness
Sunday 27 November, 19:00 Dunfermline Hustings Dunfermline
Monday 28 November, 19:00 Glasgow Hustings Glasgow
Thursday 1 December, 19:00 Dundee Hustings Dundee
Sunday 4 December, 14:30 Stirling Hustings Stirling
Tuesday 6 December, 14:30 Ayr Hustings Ayr
Thursday 8 December, 19:00 Women’s Hustings Motherwell

One Comment

  1. Andrea says:

    Unite and Unison nominated Lamont/Davidson during the weekend while Community went for Macintosh/Sarwar.
    I see from twitter that some CLPs have started doing their supporting nomination. Will the ScotLab party website update them during the week?

© 2024 Left Futures | Powered by WordPress | theme originated from PrimePress by Ravi Varma