THE SNP have called on Richard Leonard to “prove his authority” and expel nine Aberdeen councillors currently suspended for forming a coalition with the Tories.
It’s been 40 months since Kezia Dugdale took action against group, and they are still waiting for a hearing with the UK party’s national constitutional committee.
The SNP’s Aberdeen South and North Kincardine MSP, Maureen Watt, called it an “embarrassment for the Labour party” and said they treated “people of Aberdeen like mugs”.
She said it was time for Leonard – fresh from defeating an attempted coup – to take action.
“Richard Leonard’s leadership is already hanging by a thread – it’s time he grew a backbone and showed who’s boss of the Scottish Labour party,” she said.
“No more excuses and no more kicking this issue into the long grass – will Richard Leonard back or sack these Tory supporting councillors?”
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Labour did not respond to The National’s request for a comment.
When asked about the fate of the councillors back at a virtual press conference in August, Leonard described it as a “great frustration”.
When asked if he could exert any pressure on national party bosses to speed the long, drawn-out process up, Leonard said all he could do was what he had already been doing, which is to encourage the hearing to be “conducted justly but also timeously”.
He added: “When I’m interviewed by members of the press and I’m asked about outstanding cases, this is a great frustration to me, that these remain as outstanding cases and there hasn’t been a resolution.
An attempt by rebel MSPs and a handful of Lords to oust Leonard failed on Saturday, with plotters forced to withdraw a motion of no confidence in his leadership.
It means that Leonard – who has led the party since 2017 – is all but certain to lead Labour into next May’s Holyrood election.
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