Jim Murphy to formally stand down as Scottish Labour leader
Scottish Labour agrees reform plan
(about 4 hours later)
Jim Murphy is to formally stand down as leader of Scottish Labour at a meeting of the party's ruling body.
Jim Murphy has stood down as Scottish Labour leader as the party agreed to his plan for "dramatic" change.
Mr Murphy announced his intention to resign last month despite narrowly winning a confidence vote in the wake of Labour's general election defeat.
Mr Murphy announced his intention to resign last month despite narrowly winning a confidence vote in the wake of Labour's general election defeat.
He has since been drawing up plans for reforms which he hopes will lead to the party's recovery in Scotland.
He had since been drawing up plans for reforms which he hopes will lead to the party's recovery in Scotland.
Labour lost 40 of its 41 Scottish constituencies to the SNP, including Mr Murphy's East Renfrewshire seat.
Labour lost 40 of its 41 Scottish constituencies to the SNP, including Mr Murphy's East Renfrewshire seat.
Mr Murphy will formally submit his resignation alongside his blueprint for the future of Scottish Labour at its Scottish executive committee meeting in Glasgow.
The party has also announced a timetable for the election of a new leader and deputy leader, with the result of the contests to announced on 15 August.
Among his proposals are operating a one person, one vote system for the leadership election, which would replace the electoral college system which requires a majority vote in at least two out of three blocks, comprising elected members, ordinary members and unions.
The leadership contest is expected to be between current deputy leader Kezia Dugdale and the party's social justice spokesman, Ken MacIntosh.
Calls to resign
Speaking at a media conference in Glasgow on Saturday afternoon, Mr Murphy said Scottish Labour should better reflect modern Scotland.
Mr Murphy was elected as leader despite opposition from the union college, which backed his opponent Neil Findlay last year.
He unveiled five proposals which he said had been agreed in principle by party's executive council.
The outgoing Scottish Labour leader will also recommend the party reopens its Regional Lists to attract the widest possible range of candidates for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections.
These included electing a new leader through a one member one vote system rather than the electoral college system which requires a majority vote in at least two out of three blocks, comprising elected members, ordinary members and unions.
The meeting will also set out a timetable for the election of Mr Murphy's successor, which is expected to be a contest between his deputy, Kezia Dugdale, and the party's social justice spokesman, Ken MacIntosh.
The party will also reopen its selection process for the Regional Lists to attract the widest possible range of candidates for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections.
This would "abolish the closed shop arrangements for list MSPs so that every Labour Party member has a fair chance of standing for the list, and so that incumbency isn't a guarantee of re-selection", Mr Murphy said.
Mr Murphy also said the party would consider establishing a national selection panel for local councillors, and would also consider the use of primaries in the selection of MP candidates in future elections.
And he said the party would do more to publicise a "little known rule" which would allow it to waive the qualifying period before members can become candidates.
Mr Murphy added: "While commitment to the party will always be crucial, strong candidates can have other attributes other than time served.
"We want business people, charity workers, NHS staff and many others who support Labour to stand for Labour - even if up until now they never felt able to join Labour."
Mr Murphy, who took over the leadership from Johann Lamont last December, had faced calls to resign from several MSPs, trade unions and former MPs after his party was almost wiped out in Scotland at the election.
Mr Murphy, who took over the leadership from Johann Lamont last December, had faced calls to resign from several MSPs, trade unions and former MPs after his party was almost wiped out in Scotland at the election.
He has previously said it would be up to the party executive whether to accept the reforms he would be proposing before he left the post.
But he warned: "A party in such urgent need of reform blocks those changes at its peril."
Speaking ahead of Saturday's meeting, Scottish Labour Party chairman Jamie Glackin said: "The road back for Scottish Labour will be long and hard. There is no one single solution that will revive our fortunes overnight, but the proposals we will vote on at the Scottish Executive Committee will be key to our fightback.
"The Scottish Parliament elections are less than a year away. We need to get our party into shape to hold the SNP government to account and offer a credible alternative to the people of Scotland."
'Entirely inauthentic'
Former MP Tom Harris - who stood for the Scottish Labour leadership in 2011 - urged the party not to make the "absurd" move of splitting away from the UK party, and said he would be among many members who would quit if it did.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "We have spent three years campaigning, persuading Scots of the value of a UK-wide political union - the benefits of pooling and sharing of resources.
"If the Scottish party turns its back on that principle - remember a principle endorsed by Scottish voters just a few months ago - then that exposes us to, I think, an absolutely justified accusation of at best double standards and at worst hypocrisy.
"Setting up an independent Scottish Labour Party would be exposed very quickly as being entirely inauthentic, driven by electoral considerations and not principle.
"No-one would believe that we actually meant it; they would see that we were just doing it to try to win votes and that would be the death knell for the Labour Party."
The MSP Iain Gray, who is a former leader of Scottish Labour, told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme that the party had failed to grasp the change that came with devolution.
He said: "We changed the electoral system, which has all kinds of implications for how our parties should organise themselves, and we have struggled over those years to really come to terms with that.
"Really we are coming to terms with it now in the most unfortunate and brutal way possible."
