McCluskey joins calls for Murphy to resign as Scottish Labour leader in Newsnight interview

An interview with Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey will be shown on Newsnight tonight. in it, he’s expected to weigh in on the different candidates for Labour leader, but some of his remarks have already been released by the BBC. Echoing comments from Unite Scotland (and other unions and an MSP) earlier this week, McCluskey calls on Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy to step down:

“In Scotland my view is very, very strongly that we have to say to the Scottish people we’re sorry for letting you down, for making you feel abandoned, and Scottish Labour is under new management.”

“I think Jim and his colleagues should just leave the scene.”

Murphy is facing a no-confidence vote this weekend.

There is little love lost between the union and the Scottish labour leader, and McCluskey also appears to lay some blame for the election defeat across the whole of the UK at the door of the Scottish Labour Party:

“I lay the blame for that very squarely at the feet of Scottish Labour. 

“Not only have they lost Scotland but I think they’ve been responsible for making certain that the Tories were back in power in Westminster.”

The full interview will be on Newsnight tonight…

Update: Unite Scotland’s Pat Rafferty – who called for Murphy to resign last weekend, has said that Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader Kezia Dugdale should be allowed to take over the party:

“The only decent thing that Jim can do now is to resign and give deputy leader Kezia Dugdale a clear run at re-building and reforming Scottish Labour so it can avoid a constituency wipe-out in 2016.

“Jim has been at the nerve- centre of Scottish politics for a generation but he is synonymous with the past and after the general election catastrophe – Labour’s worst performance in Scotland for nearly a century – he needs to go so we can look to the future.

“These are extraordinary times for Scottish Labour requiring urgent measures, which is why, as the party’s rules permit, Kezia should now step-up to lead a process of recovery and reform that can restore stability and unity to Scottish Labour.”