LABOUR’S Westminster group is “ripping itself apart” over Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s Scottish deputy has admitted, and warned of a voter backlash in May’s local elections.
Attacking a surge in infighting among Labour MPs, Alex Rowley, who is in charge of Scottish Labour’s council campaign, said: “We need to get our act together and we need unity.”
The Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP was speaking after an angry meeting of Labour MPs at which supporters of Mr Corbyn and his deputy, Tom Watson, turned on one another.
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On Monday morning, Mr Watson accused the pro-Corbyn Momentum group of plotting with Unite, the party’s biggest donor, of planning a hard-Left takeover of the party.
It followed the release of a recording of Momentum founder Jon Lansman saying Unite planned to support Momentum if Len McCluskey was re-elected general secretary next month.
Mr Watson told Radio 4: “I regard this as a battle for the future existence of the Labour party. This is high stakes. I thought Momentum were changing. What Jon Lansman has outlined is a plan with Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite, to take control of the Labour party.”
Momentum and Mr McCluskey, one of Mr Corbyn’s most prominent supporters, deny any plot.
Mr Watson’s accusation prompted a day of accusations and recriminations among Labour MPs, culminating in an acrimonious evening meeting of the parliamentary Labour party.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who backed Owen Smith for the leadership last year, was among those to take a swipe at Mr Corbyn, saying: “Never forget, the best way to represent and deliver for working people will always be from the government benches.”
Asked about the infighting at the launch of Edinburgh Labour’s council campaign on Tuesday, Mr Rowley said: “I think the Labour party needs to be able to unite. This morning on the radio I hear about a Labour group taking place in Westminster last night and people falling out, and people arguing and plots and plotters and all the rest of it.
“That helps nobody. If you’re a local Labour candidate working your heart out on the doorstep, to hear about the party ripping itself apart like that doesn’t help anyone.
“I’m not going to start pointing fingers at who’s to blame. What I would say is that a disunited party is a party that will fail, and we need to get our act together and we need to show unity.”
He said Labour was united at a local level, but added: “It’s so sad that you then see at the top of the party MPs tearing each other apart in public. They’re the ones that need to take some responsibility and they need to show some kind of unity and focus on what the issues are.”
Asked if he agreed with Mr Watson that Unite and Momentum were plotting, he said: “I can only go by what I heard Len McCluskey say, which was that he knew nothing about this and it was a lot of rubbish. I would appeal for unity. These are senior figures within the Labour party. They’re letting down everybody out there working hard to get Labour elected. We need unity.
“At a senior level within the Labour party we need unity. We need to recognise there are council candidates, labour party members, working hard all over the country. They expect unity amongst its elected leadership. That’s what we need to have - unity.”
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