After a poor performance in the Scottish referendum campaign and weeks of briefing against her, Johann Lamont has resigned as Scottish Labour leader. In an interview with the Daily Record, she says: “I am standing down so that the debate our country demands can take place. I firmly believe that Scotland’s place is in the UK and I do not believe in powers for power’s sake. For example, I think power should be devolved from Holyrood to communities. But colleagues need to realise that the focus of Scottish politics is now Holyrood, not Westminster.”
Lamont, who was elected leader in December 2011, is strikingly critical of the UK Labour leadership, declaring that “the Labour Party must recognise that the Scottish party has to be autonomous and not just a branch office of a party based in London” and that “there is a danger of Scottish politics being between two sets of dinosaurs … the nationalists who can’t accept they were rejected by the people, and some colleagues at Westminster who think nothing has changed.”
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