‘I want a proper fair fight for Scottish Labour leadership'

In the first in a series of Sunday Post interviews with Scottish Labour leadership hopefuls, we speak to Monica Lennon on boys’ club politics, health inequality and her fight for the party’s future.

Monica Lennon has warned Scottish Labour risks angering and losing members by leaving them without a real choice in the party’s leadership battle.

Lennon says that, with hopeful Michael Marra struggling for union backing and boys’-club moves to push her off the ballot, Labour is in real danger of having a coronation for newcomer Joe Fagan just as it did for Andy Burnham when he took over as prime minister.

Labour women, she says, are disillusioned with school-playground tactics aimed at keeping the only woman in the race off the ballot, particularly one who has dedicated her political career to championing their causes and fighting health inequality.

Lennon remains determined and open for a “proper, fair fight for leadership” and is delighted to have secured the backing of two of Scotland’s biggest trade unions, Unite and Unison.

Monica Lennon in Glasgow.

She said: “I would be very happy to see a straight fight between the three of us. Labour has always been about fairness. Right now, the fairest thing would be for our party members to hear each of us, then they are the ones who should decide who they want to lead the party. If that does not happen, members will feel squeezed out and silenced.

“Labour are democratic socialists, and that has to mean something, surely? Denying members that choice poses a real risk to the party’s future. We could end up fourth or fifth in the next elections, which would be a disaster.

“I want to see the party pulling together, being stronger for the people we represent. If we don’t do that, Scottish Labour is facing a moment of real peril.”

Throughout her political career, Lennon has fought for women’s equality, rights and health issues.

She delivered one of the few world-leading pieces of legislation the Scottish Parliament has passed with her Free Period Products Bill, which has since been replicated in other countries. She has led from the front, securing a formal apology for the 60,000 women and 60,000 babies separated in Scotland because of forced adoption, and has supported thousands of women implanted with mesh that left them suffering horrific injuries.

From the start, Lennon recognised forced adoption, where, until the early 1980s, babies were taken from their mothers simply because the women were not married, as one of the worst human rights abuses of our time. As a result of her “relentless” push for justice, alongside Scottish Conservative Miles Briggs, the Scottish Government gave a formal apology, the last thing Nicola Sturgeon did as First Minister three years ago.

Lennon was backed in the Labour leadership battle by the trade union Unison on Friday but has so far struggled to win over enough parliamentarians. Candidates must secure the nominations of two unions, three MPs and three MSPs to get on to the ballot.

It means that, despite having the backing of unions, she may not be able to stand as a candidate because of a lack of MSP and MP support.

North East MSP Michael Marra is in the opposite position, with strong backing in Holyrood and Westminster but not yet winning over the required number of unions. Some insiders believe that could clear the path for former South Lanarkshire Council leader Joe Fagan to move into pole position.

However, many in the party are predicting a two-way contest between Marra and Fagan.

Lennon, 45, has hit out at that idea, saying the contest so far has reeked of “misogyny and male entitlement”.

Before entering politics, the mother and grandmother, born in Bellshill and raised in Blantyre, was a town planner. She became a councillor then an MSP, where she has held Shadow Cabinet Secretary roles for health, economy and fair work, energy, and transport, as well as serving as deputy convener of the Covid-19 committee.

She believed it was important to share her ovarian cancer scare and treatment for a complex borderline cyst, because so many women lose their lives to this killer.

Lennon described herself as “fortunate” to get prompt treatment.

After losing her seat in a shock result at the last election to SNP’s Clare Haughey, as first on the “list”, Anas Sarwar’s decision to quit the Scottish Parliament for a life peerage meant Lennon’s return to Holyrood was sealed.

She will put retaining public-sector services and jobs at the heart of her leadership bid along with a determination to work with other parties to defeat SNP cuts.

Lennon said: “I’m here to promise Scottish Labour will roll up their sleeves and get on with the job we were elected to do, protect jobs and vital public services and fight for our communities and the most vulnerable in our society.”

With four Scottish women killed in the last few days, and detectives struggling with up to 200 rapes on each officer’s books, Lennon is determined to tackle violence against women and girls as a priority.

Lennon believes the police and criminal justice system must change, with more resources to fight the pandemic of violence that has left figures spiralling.