SUPPORTERS of Jeremy Corbyn who have only just joined Labour should get a chance to become MSPs next May, the party’s new Scottish leader has said.
Kezia Dugdale told the Sunday Herald she wanted new members to be able to stand as candidates in 2016 to reinvigorate Scottish Labour in parliament.
Tens of thousands have joined Labour in recent weeks, spurred by the UK leadership race and inspired in particular by Corbyn, the veteran 66-year-old left-winger.
In Scotland, around 6000 people have joined or registered as supporters.
The upsurge is similar to that enjoyed by the SNP after the independence referendum, when its membership grew four-fold to 100,000 in a few months.
Some SNP new members are now among its 56 MPs.
Kirsten Oswald, who ousted Jim Murphy in East Renfrewshire, joined last June, while Dumfries & Galloway MP Richard Arkless joined just four days after the referendum.
Labour’s surge offers a chance to copy the SNP and tap into new talent.
Dugdale, who became leader after just four years as a Lothians MSP, met with Scottish general secretary Brian Roy last week to map out the 2016 candidate process.
The rules are being drawn up by a constitutional working group, which will recommend its plan to Labour’s ruling Scottish Executive Committee - possibly as early as August 29.
Most Labour constituency candidates have been chosen, but with the SNP expected to win most of these seats, the regional lists will be far more important for Labour.
Dugdale said Labour’s list candidates would be picked by the New Year, with party members firmly in charge of ranking candidates.
Only those ranked in the top three places have any chance of becoming Labour MSPs.
“My ambition would be that it would all be done by February," said Dugdale. "We might be able to do it quicker than that. But it wouldn’t be beyond that.”
She stressed there would be no ‘stitch-ups’ of the kind once typical of Labour.
“It will be a democratic process. It will be in the hands of party members. That’s not to say that I’m not going to go out and try and encourage new people to join the party, and new people who are in the party to stand. But I’m not going to take the right to vote away from party members.”
Under Labour rules, people must be members for a year before they can stand as candidates.
However, Dugdale said the Scottish party recently changed its “exceptional circumstances” rule, loosening this requirement.
Asked if people who joined on the back of the UK leadership race could stand, she said: “I would expect so, yes. But we’ll get to the point of having set rules in the next few weeks.”
One of the most intense list battles will be in Glasgow, where three vulnerable constituency MSPs - Paul Martin in Provan, Johann Lamont in Pollok, and Patricia Ferguson in Maryhill & Springburn - are facing the end of their careers unless they can get on the list.
However, there are already three Labour list MSPs in the city, and outgoing council leader Gordon Matheson and former Glasgow Central MP Anas Sarwar are also expected to try for places.
With so many people vying for so few winnable spots, a dog fight is inevitable.
SNP MSP James Dornan said: “Kezia Dugdale has her work cut out for her in attracting new blood to her party. Labour’s continued negativity, infighting and failure to stand up to the Tories leaves them with a gigantic credibility gap in the eyes of the Scottish public.”
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