Scottish Labour has turned to rubble, claims leadership hopeful

Monica Lennon still does not have enough support to secure a spot on the ballot to take on MSPs Michael Marra and Joe Fagan in the contest to succeed Anas Sarwar.

But posting on X as she continued her drive to be put to members, Ms Lennon hit out at the state of the party.

She posted in response to Labour MP Jon Trickett, who said “get Monica on the ballot paper”.

She wrote: “What @jon_trickett is saying reflects how members feel.

“After 19 years of opposition and six Holyrood election defeats, @ScottishLabour has turned to rubble.

“We need time and space to get this right before we lose more members and activists and there’s no one left to lead.”

Since the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Labour’s number of MSPs has dropped at every election, seeing them go from leading a government coalition in the early years at Holyrood with 56 seats to just the 17 won this May.

Ms Lennon’s comments come as Mr Fagan said community wealth building “should be at the heart of Labour’s approach to public services and economic renewal”.

“Public money should support local jobs, local businesses, co-operatives and supply chains, keeping more wealth in the communities where it is created,” the former leader of South Lanarkshire Council said.

“As a council leader, I saw what happens when local government is trusted to lead. We protected services, backed workers and used the power of the council to invest in communities and create opportunity.

“Scottish Labour must become the party of strong public services, strong local government and strong communities again.”