IMG_5458_1
Image: Ric Lander

Scottish Labour have elected Westminster MP Jim Murphy as Leader with support from members and parliamentarians.

Murphy gained 56% of votes in the electoral college but failed to win support from affiliated trade unions, with Neil Findlay MSP gaining the most support from union members.  33 year old Kezia Dugdale MSP beat Katy Clark MP to the deputy leadership post.

Co-convenor of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvie had this to say:

Peter McColl, Bright Green’s troll-in-residence offered this:

And some quick thoughts from Adam Ramsay:

  1. Let’s not glory in it. The right winning in Scottish Labour is not a good thing.
  2. Let’s not pretend he’s a heavyweight. Sure, the guy has some charisma. Yes, he has a compelling life story. But he’s no great leader, no great thinker. Blair was wrong, but he was a serious figure who changed his party hugely. Murphy looks at a fast changing country, and, basically, wants to keep his party the same.
  3. In doing so, Murphy wants to pitch his party into the right of Scottish politics. There certainly is significant space there – with both Lib Dems and Tories collapsing, and the SNP shifting a smidgeon further left. But I am not sure Labour can ever be an effective right wing opposition to a left wing government.
  4. Over the longer term, I think we can expect to gradually see the trade unions disaffiliate from Scottish Labour.
  5. The disintegration of the opposition to what has become the party of government in Scotland is very worrying. The job of those on the left surely now has to be to build up a serious opposition party to the left of the SNP. It seems clear to me that that party is the Greens, and I hope those who find it doesn’t quite fit them seek to join and change it (unlike Labour, that’s possible, it is democratic) rather than forming further new parties.

Results in detail

Leadership

Sarah Boyack MSP:  9.24% of overall vote

  • Section 1 (MPs, MSPs/MEPs): 4.22%
  • Section 2 (Members): 2.3%
  • Section 3 (Affiliates): 2.73%

Neil Findlay MSP: 34.99% of the overall vote

  • Section 1 (MPs, MSPs/MEPs) : 6.75%
  • Section 2 (Members): 10.89%
  • Section 3 (Affiliates): 17.34%

Jim Murphy MP: 55.77% of the overall vote

  • Section 1 (MPs, MSPs/MEPs): 22.36%
  • Section 2 (Members): 20.14%
  • Section 3 (Affiliates): 13.26%

Deputy Leadership

Katy Clark MP: 37.11% of the overall vote

  • Section 1 (MPs, MSPs/MEPs) : 4.7%
  • Section 2 (Members): 11.22%
  • Section 3 (Affiliates): 21.2%

Kezia Dugdale MSP: 62.89% of the overall vote

  • Section 1 (MPs, MSPs/MEPs): 28.63%
  • Section 2 (Members): 22.11%
  • Section 3 (Affiliates): 12.13%