'romp home or go'

Under-fire Scots Labour leader Leonard ‘should quit’ if he doesn’t ‘romp home’ in no confidence vote

UNDER-fire Labour boss Richard Leonard should quit if he doesn’t “romp home” in a no confidence vote today, it has been claimed.

The Scottish party chief faces a bid to oust him at a meeting of his executive committee amid fears of a wipeout at next year’s Holyrood election.

The result is not binding but rivals claim his position will be “untenable” if he loses or fails to win by a clear margin.

A senior source from the party’s anti-Leonard faction said: “Even if Richard scrapes through he’s in a lot of trouble and should go.”

Mr Leonard said: “The last thing Labour supporters and those we win back want to see is a party turning on itself.”

Several Labour MSPs called for the leader to go this month after polls pointed to a disaster at the ballot box next May.

It comes after we told that Richard Leonard refused to say if he'd continue to oppose IndyRef2 in the event of a Nats landslide.

The under-fire Scottish Labour boss insisted his party will go into the 2021 ballot “opposed” to a second vote but dodged questions on his stance if the SNP wins a majority in May.

Mr Leonard said: “Going in to the elections next year, the scale of the crisis — economic, the crisis in public services, the need for investment — the priority for the next Scottish Government should not be around constitutional questions.

“It needs to be about solving those social and economic questions.”