LABOUR was plunged into a fresh crisis last night as Jim Murphy’s nemesis Len McCluskey warned Unite could disaffiliate from the party if it does not elect the “correct leader” in the UK.
The boss of Britain’s biggest union indicated its multi-million pound funding could be severed as he underlined growing support among its members north of the Border for the SNP and the possibility Unite could give more support to the nationalists.
His renewed attack came after Murphy – angered by McCluskey’s claim Scottish Labour was to blame for losing the General Election – described McCluskey as the “kiss of death” for any new Labour leader when he announced his resignation as leader of the party north of the border on Saturday.
“I think, obviously, Jim is hurting and I can understand that,” the Unite boss hit back yesterday.
“But he’s playing the same trick that right-wing media has played for a number of years, looking for a bogeyman as an excuse. I wasn’t the one who lost Scotland to the SNP.
“It wasn’t just Unite who called for him to step down – Unison, GMB and a growing number of MSPs – so he’s hurting at the moment, I understand that.
“I’ve never actually spoken to Jim, I’ve never had a conversation with him, therefore it’s not personal when right at the beginning of the Scottish leadership election I said it would be dangerous for Labour – in fact I think I said it would be a political death sentence – if Jim took it over.
“It wasn’t personal, it was because Jim has been at the epicentre of the ideology that has alienated the Scottish working class for years and years.”
He added: “The SNP has been gaining ground for years and Scottish Labour has displayed an arrogance that, unfortunately, led us to where we are at the General Election.
“I have a right to express a view on behalf of my members, the majority of my members voted for the SNP in the General Election and unfortunately what I was predicting would happen came to pass. I was hoping it wouldn’t, I was hoping Jim would win back the trust of the Scottish working class.”
McCluskey said he did not have an attachment with the SNP but said some Unite members want to see the rules of political support changed in Scotland.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: “We have a rules conference in my union in July and there’s already a number of resolutions from Scotland seeking to release them from the rule that kind of limits us just to the Labour Party.”
Meanwhile, the frontrunner for the UK Labour leadership said “there was a case” for Scottish Labour to operate completely separately north of the Border.
Andy Burnham said it was something he would look at as he presented himself as the candidate best placed to rebuild the party, which lost all but one of its MPs in Scotland at the General Election.
“There is a case for that and I will look at that,” he said appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
“We’ve had an election that’s left the country more divided and fragmented, we’ve got a prime minister who has stoked the separatist cause in his own interest.
“It used to be the Tory and Unionist party but they’re now just playing to English nationalism. If anyone is concerned about the break-up of the UK they need a strong Labour Party going forward and I am the person who can speak to all of the UK.”
He added: “I’ve got huge respect for Jim, he’s given his all to the Labour Party, but in Scotland we do now need a clean break, we need a process of listening and learning and rebuilding and I believe in this contest I’m the person best placed to do that.”
SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson welcomed McCluskey’s comments that many of his members had voted for the SNP.
He said: “We’re in a very strong position and I have no doubt that the majority of trade unionists voted for the SNP in the recent election, just as many other groups in society, because the SNP pledged to stand up for Scotland’s interests, for progressive politics against the austerity agenda and that chimed with many people.”
Meanwhile, Scotland’s only remaining Labour MP, Ian Murray, said the new leader of the Scottish party should be an MSP and praised current deputy leader Kezia Dugdale.
He said: “I’m very much of the view, and I’m not sure this is any great secret, that the leader of the Scottish Labour Party should probably be a member of the Scottish Parliament.
“I think deputy leader Kezia Dugdale has done a fantastic job at FMQs holding the SNP to account, which is what the Scottish Labour Party should be doing.”
Lothians MSP Neil Findlay has ruled himself out of running for the Scottish Labour leadership. He resigned after the General Election citing the party’s “disaster’’ at the polls in Scotland.
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