Wendy Alexander quits as Labour descends into crisis
WENDY Alexander today announced her resignation as leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
The embattled leader said she was standing down with “deep regret”.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “I want to thank Wendy Alexander, not just for her work in rebuilding the Scottish Labour Party since the last elections but for her commitment to devolution and her part in establishing the Scottish Parliament.
“Her dedication to social justice can never be doubted and her contribution - which has been outstanding over the years - will be greatly missed.”
Wendy Alexander has been author of own misfortune
The announcement comes after Holyrood’s Standards Committee ruled she should be suspended from Parliament for one day for failing to declare to donations to her leadership campaign.
*** EXPRESS VIDEO: LABOUR'S CASH SCANDALS ***
Earlier today, Labour MP David Marshall announced he is to quit the Commons, piling further by-election pressure on under-fire Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
In her resignation statement, Ms Alexander said the row over the donations had become a “distraction” from the real issues facing Scotland.
She said she was the victim of a “partisan” decision by the Standards Committee and claimed there had been a “breach of natural justice”.
Ms Alexander’s departure now presents Labour with the prospect of a leadership contest in Scotland.
She announced her resignation in a statement delivered before TV cameras at Scottish Labour headquarters in Glasgow.
Her voice still hoarse from a throat infection, and on the day after her 45th birthday, Ms Alexander announced her decision to resign following the decisions this week of Holyrood’s Standards Committee.
Ms Alexander said: “I hope the events of recent days will lead to reflections by all MSPs and parliament officials on the appropriateness, objectivity and effectiveness of our current procedures.
“I acted in good faith and the written advice of parliamentary authorities.
“I believe there has been a breach of natural justice in a partisan decision,” said Ms Alexander.
But she said the parliamentary process - “if not its conclusion” - deserved respect.
Ms Alexander went on: “I judge this issue has become too much of a distraction from the real issues that should dominate our public life.”
These, she said, were the “challenges, cares and concerns” of communities across Scotland.
Ms Alexander said Labour over the past year had made progress in renewing policies and reconnecting with voters while the SNP’s “broken promises, spending cuts, U-turns and policy failures” were becoming more apparent.
“I have sought to lead Labour in the Scottish Parliament with commitment and conviction without indulging in the personal attacks so fashionable in current Scottish politics,” said Ms Alexander who concluded her short statement by saying she intended to stay on as an MSP in Paisley North.
Scotland’s Deputy First Minister and SNP deputy leader and Nicola Sturgeon said the resignation suggested splits within Labour in Scotland.
She said: “While Wendy Alexander has been author of own misfortune, there can be no doubt that the information on her illegal campaign donation could only have come from within the inner circles of the Labour Party.
“For months, there has been an unanswered question in Scottish politics - who within Scottish Labour leaked the information which provoked the serious investigation, culminating in Wendy Alexander’s resignation?
“As Labour face another leadership trauma, her likely successors would do well to watch each other as well as their political opponents.
“Decay from within is characteristic of the decline of the New Labour project, and Wendy Alexander’s resignation is a symptom of this wider malaise.”
Ms Alexander was followed to the microphone by Cathy Jamieson who said Ms Alexander’s resignation had been accepted “with deep regret”.
“Ever since this process began, anybody who knows Wendy Alexander has not for one minute questioned her integrity,” said Ms Jamieson.
“With this decision she has put the Scottish Parliament and the Labour party above her own personal interests.”
Ms Jamieson went on to argue the affair had raised wider issues about the parliamentary process.
She added: "Wendy Alexander has set up the platform for Labour to reconnect with the people of Scotland and we will be taking forward this agenda over the summer and beyond.
In a statement, Ms Alexander’s brother Douglas Alexander, the secretary of state for international development, said: “This has been a very tough decision in very difficult circumstances and I understand Wendy’s characteristic instinct to put the Labour Party interests first.
“She is a woman of outstanding talent and as a family we care about her very much.”
