Scottish Labour MPs and MSPs warned against 'male, pale and stale' leadership contest
Pauline Bryan said “there is a real danger that Scottish Labour will start backsliding to the time when the leadership was seen as being the preserve of men.”
The Scottish Labour MPs and MSPs have been warned against a “male, pale and stale” leadership contest.
Scots Labour peer Pauline Bryan said “there is a real danger that Scottish Labour will start backsliding to the time when the leadership was seen as being the preserve of men.”
The left winger said it was “incumbent” on Scottish Labour MPs and MSPs to ensure that there is a woman in the contest.
It comes amid reports that there have been “serious attempts” to keep leadership contender Monica Lennon off the ballot paper.
Candidates need the backing of three MPs, three MSPs and three affiliates - two of which must be trade unions - to stand.
Ms Lennon currently has the support of two MPs - Brian Leishman and Euan Stainbank - but it is not clear if another will back her.
She needs two other MSPs to nominate her, although none of her Holyrood colleagues have yet given her public support.
West Scotland MSP Katy Clark is also weighing up a bid for the leadership. If her and fellow left-winger Carol Mochan backed Ms Lennon, it would ensure she made it onto the ballot.
Baroness Bryan wrote on the Scottish Labour Left website: “Party members and trade union affiliates deserve to have a wider selection available to them
“Importantly they need to have the choice of a woman leader.
“The UK Labour Party has still not had a woman as leader and there is a real danger that Scottish Labour will start backsliding to the time when the leadership was seen as being the preserve of men.
“The Scottish Labour Party is not required to have a woman leader, but it should be required to have a woman on the ballot paper, just as we do when selecting candidates for the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments.
“It is incumbent on all Scottish Labour MSPs, MPs, affiliates and members to ensure that this contest does not become yet another battle of the male, pale and stale.
“We need to hear women’s voices loud and clear as a matter of course, not as an exception.”
Ms Lennon, Scottish Labour finance spokesperson Michael Marra and new MSP Joe Fagan have all said they are running for the leadership.
Mr Marra already has the backing he needs from MPs and MSPs to make it onto the ballot, although he still requires the endorsement of affiliates.
Mr Fagan has the support of one MSP and one MP, but it is expected that others will publicly back him in the coming days.
Several MPs have told The Scotsman they are undecided as to who they are backing and have suggested they could be open to supporting Ms Lennon.
The route to the ballot appears to be harder for Ms Clark - if she stands - because the two MPs most sympathetic to her politics have already backed Ms Lennon.
Three of Scottish Labour’s ten leaders have been women - Wendy Alexander, Johann Lamont and Kezia Dugdale.
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