Richard Leonard backed by CWU in race to be next leader of Scottish Labour

Richard Leonard has secured the backing of another trade union in his fight to be the next leader of Scottish Labour.

Leonard, himself a former trade unionist, has been backed by Unite, Usdaw, Aslef, Unison and TSSA so far, whereas his rival for the top job Anas Sarwar has been backed only by Community.

The CWU, which is Labour’s fifth largest affiliate and the biggest trade union in the communications sector, has backed Leonard, the left candidate in the race. Leonard is believed to be the preferred candidate of Jeremy Corbyn’s office.

Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, said: “Richard Leonard is a strong trade unionist and friend of the CWU. Richard strongly supports our union’s fight for the Four Pillars of Security, for universal broadband access for all and for a publicly owned Post Bank.”

“We need a bold agenda for radical change in Scotland and we know that Richard is offering this. We are starting to witness Labour’s message of hope cutting through and we believe Richard Leonard is the man to take it forward”.