Murray vows to “reach out” at deputy leadership campaign launch

Labour must become a party for the whole of the United Kingdom, Ian Murray announced as he launched his campaign to be the next deputy leader this morning.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Labour’s only remaining Scottish MP declared that the party must “care about every single region and nation” in order to win the next general election.

The deputy leadership hopeful outlined how he would take responsibility for Labour’s approach to the UK’s post-Brexit governance “so that no city, town or community is left behind”.

Murray also told the event that he would be present a report to party conference in September on how Labour could win power once more.

In a pointed criticism of John McDonnell, Murray said “never again should a senior member of the Labour Party be coming to an Edinburgh Fringe show and changing our constitutional position on Scotland”.

Labour Deputy Leader contender Ian Murray says “never again should a senior member of the Labour Party (@johnmcdonnellMP) be coming to an Edinburgh Fringe show and changing our constitutional position on Scotland” @LBCNews @LBC pic.twitter.com/70JbGb8BxM

— Alan Zycinski (@AlanJZycinski) January 16, 2020

At the Edinburgh event, Murray said: “We must reach out and listen to every corner of this country and every person in our country.

“Our party can only win by winning support across the whole of the United Kingdom, by building a coalition of all types of people with a variety of interests.

He added: “Let me be clear: I’ve never seen politics as an exercise in carving up different parts of the country, or different interest groups.”

The deputy leadership candidate also talked about antisemitism and the current internal complaints process, arguing that Labour needed to look at its own procedures.

Murray said: “I’m embarrassed about the cancer of antisemitism in our party. As deputy leader, I will ensure a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and antisemitism.”

“I will take personal responsibility for the grievance and complaints process, and I will be held responsible for enforcing that zero-tolerance approach.

“Never again do I want any Jewish person to feel that they do not have a home in the Labour Party, that they can’t trust us to do the right thing, or that they feel our party would make the country a more dangerous place for them.”

He concluded: “The Labour Party – that stood alongside Jewish people for generations – strayed from our historic values. And in many of the big fights over the past few years, the same has been true.

“We should be proud of what the last Labour government achieved in power, and we must now look to the future and stand up for what we believe in – co-operation, solidarity, and working together.”