ALEX Rowley has ruled himself out of the Scottish Labour leadership contest as he warned the party their troubles would not be solved until they agreed “where it stands on the future governance of Scotland and the absolute right of the Scottish people to determine their own future”.

The party’s Holyrood frontbencher also appeared to question the legitimacy of a contest before the election, due in May, saying they should have decided to wait and elect a new leader after the Scottish Parliament poll.

In a bombshell intervention, the MSP and former deputy leader referred to the process where candidates have to get the backing of sitting MSPs and pointed out with the party’s list rankings still ongoing it was not known who from the party would be in Holyrood after the election.

His suggestion was that candidates would get backing from MSPs who may no longer be sitting in a few months time.

“I will not be standing, my own view is we should have waited until after the elections and asked the interim leader to lead us through the elections,” he told The National when asked if he would be throwing his hat into the ring for the leadership.

“No-one in their right mind is suggesting Scottish Labour can win in May, but our objective must be to come a good second so the question of who becomes FM does not arise for Labour.”

He added: “As it is today, we do not know what the results of the internal regional lists elections will be so you may have a small group of individuals deciding the next leader when they themselves are not even going to be returning to the parliament.

“I also take the view that it will not really matter who the leader is if the party cannot come together and agree where it stands on the future governance of Scotland and the absolute right of the Scottish people to determine their own future.

“On this issue, Labour in Scotland remains bitterly divided and people do not vote for parties that are divided and full of bitterness.”

Rowley is among the senior Labour figures who believe Scottish Labour should not oppose an independence referendum if there is majority support for one.

His stance followed a devastating defeat for Labour at the 2019 General Election, when it lost six of its seven MPs.

Following the result, Rowley was among a number of senior Labour politicians, who included fellow MSPs Neil Findlay and Monica Lennon, to urge the party not to oppose a second independence referendum – though they still took a stand against independence. There are now fears on the Scottish Labour left that the new leader will advance a hardline Unionist position in a bid to win over former Tory voters, alienated by Boris Johnson.

When news of Leonard’s resignation emerged, Findlay said he had been brought down by internal critics, adding “these flinching cowards and sneering traitors make me sick”. He later told the Morning Star that the party’s performance in 2017 – when it got seven MPs – was due to Jeremy Corbyn’s left-wing message and not so much the Unionist one advanced at the time by Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale. As we went to press, pro-Union Anas Sarwar was the party’s only leadership candidate.