Richard Leonard says there should be a gender balance after his previous deputy resigned over misconduct allegationsRichard Leonard, the new leader of the Scottish Labour party, has said he is sympathetic to having an all-female shortlist for the vacancy as his deputy leader. Senior Labour sources said only women were expected to stand for the post even if an all-female shortlist was rejected by the party’s Scottish executive. The previous deputy leader, Alex Rowley, resigned on Saturday over allegations of misconduct. Leonard told the Guardian he believed there should be a gender balance in the party’s Scottish leadership and said he backed all-female election shortlists. Unlike the UK Labour party, which has always been led by men, Scottish Labour has had three female leaders since 1999: Wendy Alexander, Johann Lamont and Kezia Dugdale.

Source: The Guardian December 18, 2017 14:26 UTC