Michael Marra likely to make Scottish Labour leadership ballot after NUM backing
The North East Scotland MSP was nominated by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday.
Michael Marra is very likely to make the Scottish Labour leadership after he received backing from a small trade union.
The North East Scotland MSP was nominated by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday.
Candidates for the race to succeed Anas Sarwar need the backing of three affiliates, two of which must be unions, to make the ballot.
It had been suggested that Mr Marra might struggle to win nominations, due to him and Joe Fagan competing for the limited number of more moderate unions.
But winning the NUM nomination means Mr Marra only needs the support of one more.
Mr Marra said: “Thank you to the National Union of Mineworkers for your nomination. I am proud to have your support to be Scottish Labour's next leader.”
Both Mr Marra and Mr Fagan are competing for endorsements from GMB Scotland, Community and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw).
Because there is only three moderate unions split between two candidates, it had been suggested that one of them could miss out on the ballot.
But Mr Marra winning the NUM nomination means he is very likely to make it to the members’ vote.
Monica Lennon has already won the backing of the two required unions, with Unite and Unison coming out to back her.
It is expected that the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) - all considered more left-wing - will also back her.
The smaller Musicians’ Union is harder to predict, but Mr Marra has been courting the body with his support for the campaign to save Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts.
Both Mr Marra and Mr Fagan have the required backing from MPs and MSPs to make it onto the ballot paper.
But Ms Lennon has not yet met the threshold of three MPs and three MSPs.
She needs the backing of one more each. Carol Mochan is the most likely MSP to back her, but it is hard to see where her third MP supporter comes from.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.