SCOTTISH Labour was in the grips of a devastating and protracted crisis last night as a second member of its shadow cabinet sensationally quit and two more trade unions rounded on Jim Murphy’s decision to continue as leader.

Alex Rowley resigned late yesterday morning as the local government spokesman at Holyrood, while Unison, one of Labour’s largest financial backers, delivered a damning verdict on his performance, which culminated in an almost total wipe-out of Labour north of the Border and saw him lose his own East Renfrewshire seat.

“It is unprecedented for a party leader not to stand down after such a defeat, particularly when he loses his own seat,’’ said the union, which is a major contributor to the party’s coffers. ‘‘The campaign may have been energetic, but it lacked focus and clearly voters do not regard Jim Murphy as a credible messenger of Scottish Labour values.”

Unison’s statement followed a conference call to shape the union’s view ahead of its representative attending Labour’s Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) meeting on Saturday, during which Murphy is expected to face a no-confidence motion.

It stopped short of calling for Murphy to stand aside but said if “there was a wider movement” proposing a leadership change it “would not oppose it”.

Meanwhile, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) – which donated about £30,000 to Labour’s General Election campaign – was preparing last night to join calls by Unite and the rail workers’ union Aslef for Murphy to stand aside.

A senior CWU source told The National: “We’re having conversations and we are presently trying to arrange a conference call with all the officers. But privately the feeling is very much in line with our colleagues in Aslef and Unite.”

Alex Rowley’s resignation came less than 24 hours after a three-hour long meeting in Glasgow on Monday between Murphy and Labour MSPs to discuss the General Election defeat.

In his resignation letter to Murphy Rowley argued the leader in Scotland would be a “distraction” in the run up to the Holyrood election next year and said it was a “mistake” for him and his chief of staff John McTernan to continue. The party needed a “fundamental change in direction and strategy”, he added.

“I said yesterday at the meeting of Labour MSPs that I thought your speech on Friday stating that you would stay on and lead Labour into the 2016 election was a mistake, and that it would also be a mistake for the team you put in place, including your Chief of Staff, to remain in post,” Rowley, a key figure in the party and a close ally of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said.

“I sincerely hold the view that you continuing as leader whilst not in the Scottish Parliament, and not in an elected position holding a democratic mandate, means you will become an unhelpful distraction from the real issues that Scottish Labour must focus on.”

Rowley hit back too at suggestions being made that Labour representatives should not talk about the party’s crisis publicly and that those who did so would be disloyal.

“It is clear from the discussion yesterday that dissent in public from the leadership view is perceived as disloyalty, but I am convinced we need a fundamental change in direction and strategy and therefore cannot sign up to your leadership as one of your shadow team,” he said.

“From an early age my memories are of my parents talking about politics and the need for working people to organise and fight for a better and fairer society and that is why I joined the Labour Party. It was suggested to me at the weekend that it would be disloyal to the Labour Party if I were to speak publicly on these issues.

“I have given that a lot of thought and consideration and I concluded that it would be disloyal and damaging to Labour were I not to speak out. I believe now, more than ever, that we in Scotland need a strong, relevant Labour Party and we will not achieve this under your leadership, therefore I have no choice but to speak out.”

YESTERDAY’S interventions follow a weekend of criticism among Labour figures about Murphy continuing as leader. Neil Findlay, the Lothians MSP, resigned from the shadow cabinet on Saturday, while fellow left-wing Labour MSP and Holyrood’s deputy presiding officer Elaine Smith, also called for him to go.

Former Labour MPs Katy Clark, Ian Davidson and Michael Connarty also urged Murphy to stand down.

On Saturday Unite said the Labour leader should resign “without delay” and warned that, otherwise, “extinction looms” for the party.

However, following Monday’s meeting of Labour MSPs, finance spokeswoman Jackie Baillie insisted that the “overwhelming majority of MSPs were very clear, they want Jim Murphy and Kezia Dugdale to lead us forward into the future”.

A statement released after the meeting made no mention of Murphy and referred to the “huge challenges” the party faced. It added that the party was united in moving towards next year’s Holyrood election.

It said: “No one in Scottish Labour is under any doubt or illusion as to the huge challenges we face as a party, and the challenges we face as a country.

“The party will rebuild, and seek the opportunity to serve the people of Scotland again by regaining their trust and confidence.”

The crisis follows Scottish Labour’s most humiliating election result in the party’s history in which it lost 40 seats and was left with just Ian Murray in Edinburgh South.

Murphy has said he had only five months since his appointment in December to change the party’s fortunes.

A spokesman for the Scottish Labour party said last night: “It’s disappointing that Alex chose to resign. The task for the Scottish Labour Party going forward is to work together to rebuild our movement and regain the trust of the people of Scotland.”

On Unison, the spokesman added: “The only way to rebuild Scottish Labour and regain the trust of the people of Scotland is for everybody in our movement to work together. As the old trade union saying goes, ‘unity is strength’.” He declined to comment on the CWU’s comments and dismissed them as speculation.