SCOTLAND'S only Labour MP Ian Murray has confirmed his bid to stand for deputy leader of the party.
Six Labour MPs lost their seats in Scotland at last month's General Election, but Murray retained his Edinburgh South seat with a reduced majority of more than 11,000.
He has been a vocal critic of Jeremy Corbyn and following the election warned Labour "will die" without change. It was the party's worst General Election performance since 1935.
As well as urging Corbyn - who has announced he will step down in March - to resign as leader, Murray said "the policy and the ideology has to go too".
READ MORE: Election: Ian Murray warns Labour 'will die' without change
Murray is also strongly opposed to independence, and clashed with senior UK party figures ahead of the election over their position to not stand in the way of a future Scottish independence referendum.
Murray has claimed that Scotland becoming independent would make Brexit "worse" and in a Scotsman column last October wrote: "The new extreme separation the SNP is offering is the equivalent of not just cutting of your nose to spite your face but cutting your head off."
Announcing his deputy leadership run, he said: "The architects of the party's catastrophic failure in 2019 cannot be allowed to be the architects of the response.
READ MORE: Ian Murray hits out at Corbyn’s advisors over ‘wrong’ Brexit stance
"The next leadership team must turn us into an election-winning machine that uses the skills and talents of all our members and supporters to succeed.
"To win again we will need to beat the odds and I know how to win by building broad coalitions of support."
In a piece for the Daily Mirror, Murray also wrote: "I never again want to feel like I did at 10pm on the night of the General Election."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel