A PLOT by Scottish Labour rebels to oust Richard Leonard could end up in the courts.

The cabal is made up of four peers and five MSPs – which they argue is sufficient to trigger an election contest because a fifth of the Holyrood group has signed up.

However, Scottish Labour general secretary Michael Sharpe said he is "not aware of any such precedent on this issue" for the Scottish Party.

That claim has been branded “absurd” by one of the rebel leaders, who has refused to rule out court action.

The group has not said who their candidate to succeed Leonard would be – insisting that it is important first to clarify how any leadership contest could be started.

So far, MSPs James Kelly, Daniel Johnson, Jenny Marra, Mark Griffin and another unnamed representative have joined the cabal. 

Johnson argued this is sufficient to force a leadership challenge because the Scottish Labour Party "defers" to the UK party's rule book – adding that this accepts "that a fifth of the parliamentary party constitutes a valid challenge".

Concerns about the leadership have been raised ahead of next May's Holyrood elections, with the group of MSPs calling for Leonard to quit fearing the impact he will have on their party's performance at the poll.

Leonard remains insistent that he will lead his party in next year's election campaign, arguing that it would be a "dereliction of duty" for the party to "turn in on itself at the very point when the country is facing an unprecedented crisis".

But speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, Edinburgh Southern MSP Johnson said: "We seem to be in the slightly odd situation where a few days ago we had the leader of the Scottish Labour Party saying he would accept any challenge and now there seems to be a claim that no challenge is possible.

"That seems fairly absurd. But fundamentally there is a point of fairness here, in that even constituency Labour Party chairs have to submit themselves for re-election once a year.

"The UK leader of the Labour Party may be challenged if a fifth of MPs submit a challenge, but apparently the Scottish Labour leader uniquely holds office without qualification, caveat or limitation.

"And I don't think that is fair, I don't think that is reasonable and I think it is certainly highly questionable."

READ MORE: Scottish Labour rebels ready to trigger contest to oust Richard Leonard

He insisted: "The Scottish Labour Party rule book says the general provisions of the UK Labour Party rule book apply to the Scottish Labour Party.

"So given this provision for challenging a leader is in the UK rule book, I think it is at best arguable that the provision applies to the Scottish Labour Party."

Pressed on who the challenger to Mr Leonard would be, Mr Johnson responded: "I don't think it would be sensible or reasonable to put forward a candidate until we have established what the rules are."

He continued: "We need to establish that there is this possibility. I think Labour Party democracy and fairness within the party demands that we establish that there is a fair and consistent application of rules.

"At the moment that seems to have been cast into doubt - that is what we need to establish before we move forward."

But asked if there could be a court challenge to establish the procedures, he said: "It is certainly challengeable and we need to look at all our options."