Ian Murray: Same problems await Labour if election ignored

The sole Labour MP in Scotland has warned that the party will face the “same problems all over again” if they ignore the reasons for their general election defeat.

Ian Murray gave the warning as he launched his bid to be the party’s new deputy leader.

The Edinburgh South MP, who retained his seat with a majority of 11,000 in December’s vote, said Labour had to be “honest” about the issues that led to defeat.

He said: “We have to be honest about the problems that we have had, and whether you were knocking on doors in John O’Groats, Land’s End or every single seat in between, the problems were the Labour leadership and the manifesto that they didn’t think was realistic or deliverable.

“If any leadership candidate wants to ignore that then we will have the same problems all over again.”

Boris Johnson’s Tory party swept to victory with a majority of 80 MPs, with leader Jeremy Corbyn announcing he will step down when a replacement is elected.

The results in Scotland were as equally disappointing for Labour with the party reduced to a single MP amid an SNP landslide.

Some party members have suggested a split between Scottish Labour and the UK party may be beneficial.

Murray said: “I don’t think we should have any knee-jerk reactions to what happened on December 12.

“We are all feeling incredibly sore and, yes, there will be people who want to look at that as an option, and maybe we should look at that as an option and leave everything on the table, but the important thing here is not to look internally but to look externally.”