LABOUR’S Shadow Scottish Secretary has described the resignation of a member of the party’s front bench as an act of “planned sabotage”.
Andy McDonald, who resigned at Labour’s shadow employment secretary last night, accused Keir Starmer’s office of attempting to force him to argue against minimum wage levels of £15 and increasing sick pay levels to minimum wage.
The resignation was seen as an attack from the left side of the party.
However Ian Murray, Scottish Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said the timing of Mr McDonald’s departure appeared planned as days earlier the same MP had been advocating for the policy.
He said: “We’re not quite sure why he resigned yesterday, he seems to have said one thing and written another.
“That looks as if it might be a planned sabotage of conference, rather than it being about any principle.”
Mr Murray continued: “This was a policy, don’t forget, that Andy McDonald and the shadow cabinet wrote, he put through shadow cabinet and he launched with much acclaim in the conference hall 48 hours before he resigned.
“We’re not quite sure why he resigned, but these things happen in politics and we’re all very angry and frustrated that the headlines are being dominated by one person when we should be talking about the big issues of the future.”
The resignation was seen by many as a blow against Keir Starmer, with Mr McDonald the last remaining ally of Jeremy Corbyn who was still on the party’s front bench.
One Labour source told The Herald there was “constant infighting” and the attempt by Mr Starmer to change rules around the nomination of future leadership candidates had “inflamed” the situation.
They said: “The rule changes look sneaky, and they are an attempt to basically remove power from members, and centralise it with the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party].
“It was pitched as a plan to prepare for the next general election, but it’s nothing of the sort.
“If Starmer wants to unite the party, he is going about it the wrong way.”
After Mr McDonald’s resignation last night, several high-profile MPs rallied around him.
Zara Sultana said it was “shameful” that he had been asked to argue against the minimum wage rise to £15, and suggested there was a “Blairite clique running the show”.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn who was sacked from the Labour front bench last year, asked conference delegates what the “point of the Labour party” was, “if it’s true that we were saying we shouldn’t’ advocate for statutory sick pay at the rate of living wage.”
READ MORE: Labour cabinet minister quits role over sick pay and minimim wage row
Addressing Mr Starmer later, Mr McDonald said: “I joined your frontbench team on the basis of the pledges that you made in the leadership campaign to bring about unity within the party and maintain our commitment to socialist policies.
“After 18 months of your leadership, our movement is more divided than ever and the pledges that you made to the membership are not being honoured. This is just the latest of many.”
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