A new campaign group to promote Jeremy Corbyn’s political agenda north of the border has been launched.
'Momentum Scotland' will attempt to build bridges with community groups and promote socialist policies inside Labour.
The launch comes as left-wing candidates supportive of Corbyn prepare to become Scottish Labour candidates at next year’s Holyrood election.
Corbyn comfortably won the UK Labour leadership contest, but his party continues to be divided on economic and foreign policy.
Scottish Labour is at odds with the UK leadership, due to its centrist leader Kezia Dugdale, who commands the support of her group at Holyrood and the party’s governing executive committee.
Momentum was launched at a UK level to harness the “energy and enthusiasm” of the Corbyn victory by presenting the leader’s policies to a wider audience.
The Scottish sister organisation was unveiled at Partick Burgh Hall in Glasgow yesterday and included contributions from established figures on the left of the Party.
These included MSP Elaine Smith, Stephen Low from Unison, Denise Christie and Campaign for Socialism chair Vince Mills.
Smith said: "The name speaks for itself. We want to build on the momentum of the Corbyn campaign and the policies he put forward during his successful leadership contest. We are also trying to win support for Labour in communities."
A key test for Scottish Labour’s left is whether Corbyn sympathisers will do well on the party’s regional Lists for Holyrood.
Labour is expected to lose most, if not all, its first-past-the-post MSPs in May and is privately expecting to win around 25 MSPs on the Lists.
The deadline for self-nominated candidates to apply for the regional selections is tomorrow, which will be followed by a shortlisting process drawn up by the party’s Executive.
Trade union official Richard Leonard and economist Lesley Brennan are amongst the left-wingers tipped to stand.
However, party insiders believe Labour’s falling vote share will make it hard for any substantial internal shift to take place.
The fact that a tranche of Scottish Labour’s new members, many of whom voted for Corbyn, do not have a vote in the selection contest is another handicap.
SNP MSP James Dornan said: “Following on from the news that former MP Anas Sarwar is to make his political comeback, the launch of Momentum just shows how divided the Labour Party in Scotland is. As has previously been shown, voters do not like divided parties.”
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