Leonard Resigns As Head Of Scottish Labour As Elections Approach

Richard Leonard MSP has resigned as leader of the Scottish Labour Party months ahead of elections to the Scottish Parliament.

• Leonard has served as leader of the Scottish Labour Party since November 2017, and stepped down as leader stating that 'speculation over his leadership' was a distraction at a time when his party was struggling in the polls.
• Labour, previously the dominant political force in Scotland in the 1990s and 2000s has lost support as the political debate has shifted from left vs right on economic issues to unionist vs nationalist on the issue of independence. This has seen the SNP become the largest party with the Conservative and Unionist Party (the Scottish branch of UK PM Boris Johnson's Conservatives) the main pro-union opposition, leaving Labour in third place.
• There remains the prospect that the Scottish Parliament elections, slated for 6 May, could be postponed for a second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• At present, the governing pro-independence Scottish National Party remains on course to win the most seats in Holyrood, and potentially a majority (even in an electoral system designed to avoid majority gov'ts). Should First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's SNP win a majority in Holyrood the calls for a legally-binding independence referendum for Scotland would grow even louder.