Jim Murphy to stand down as Scottish Labour leader on 13th June

Jim Murphy, leader of the Scottish Labour party, announced he’d be standing down from the position mid-May. It has now emerged the date he will officially cease to be leader of the party will be the 13th June.

Murphy, who was elected as leader last December but who lost his seat in the general election to the SNP, narrowly survived a vote of no confidence (17 to 14) held by the Scottish Executive Committee in May.

However, he announced at this meeting that he was resigning as leader. Although Murphy had received some support from within the party, there had been a number of calls for him to go from MSP and affiliated unions. He said at the time of his resignation that he’d like a new leader to elected over the summer, so that the party were ready to campaign ahead of the 2016 Holyrood elections.

He also said that he would step down from the leadership position after presenting suggested internal reforms to Scottish Labour’s executive. HeraldScotland have reported that this will take place on 13th June, meaning Murphy is expected to go then.

Scottish Labour’s Constitution working group will meet in the coming week to decide how the leadership contest will be fought – namely whether it will be decided through one-member-one-vote (OMOV) or through the existing three part electoral college.

Potential candidates to replace Murphy include:

-Kezia Dugdale, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, who has officially announced she’s standing for the position and this weekend gave a speech outlining her vision for the party

– Ken Macintosh, who has confirmed he’s seriously thinking about running and has called for one member one vote to be implemented.