Scottish Labour leader finally bows to pressure

The leader of the Scottish Labour Party has resigned. Wendy Alexander has been under a cloud of illegal fundraising claims for months. “The truth is that this issue will continue to dominate the headlines. I can’t take it off the agenda, and in those circumstances it is not possible for me as leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, to put on the agenda the real issues that should dominate,” she said.

On Friday, the Scottish parliamentary standards committee voted to suspend her for a day as a reprimand. Prime Minister Gordon Brown loses one of his most valued allies in Scotland, and he praised her “outstanding” work for the party.

While she will remain as MP for Paisley North, more potentially bad news for Labour came from Scotland with the resignation on health grounds of David Marshall, necessitating a by-election in Glasgow East.

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