Scottish MP criticises Labour policies after suspension

Scottish MP Brian Leishman has said he cannot back policies that "make people poorer" after being suspended by Labour.

The Alloa and Grangemouth representative has repeatedly criticised Sir Keir Starmer over the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery, welfare reforms and winter fuel payment cuts.

He is one of four Labour MPs to have lost the party whip for breaching party discipline, meaning they will now sit as independents.

Leishman said he remained committed to the party and signalled that he would seek to re-join the parliamentary group.

The party is yet to comment on specific rule breaches, but it comes after 47 Labour MPs rebelled against the UK government's proposed cuts to welfare and forced ministers to gut the reforms of key proposals.

All three of the suspended MPs voted against the government's welfare reform bill earlier this month.

Leishman told BBC Scotland News he was "devastated" to lose the whip.

"I am a proud Labour Party member," he said.

"I don't want to lose the whip and, to be honest, I don't think what I have said and what I have done in my first 12 months as an MP (mean) I deserve to."

The MP said he had "no forewarning" of the decision and added he had been elected to be a "voice for my constituents across Alloa and Grangemouth".

In a earlier statement, Leishman said he wished to remain a Labour MP.

He added: "I firmly believe that it is not my duty as an MP to make people poorer, especially those that have suffered because of austerity and its dire consequences."

The BBC understands MPs Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell have also had the Labour whip removed.

Three other Labour MPs - Rosena Allin Khan, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Mohammed Yasin - have been stripped of their trade envoy roles.

Following a landslide victory north and south of the border at last year's general election, Scottish Labour's new cohort of MPs has remained largely loyal to the government - with Leishman the consistent exception.

He has hit out at the prime minister over the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery in his constituency, arguing more could be done to save more than 400 jobs.

And Leishman criticised the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments to millions of pensioners.

He was also among the most vocal of a group of Scottish Labour MPs who joined a backbench rebellion against welfare reforms.

Although many of the rebels backed down once the government made major concessions, Leishman remained in steadfast opposition to the watered-down bill and voted against it.

Just hours before he was suspended, Leishman asked Sir Keir about Fife bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis at Prime Minister's Questions.

After the Labour leader said he was working with English mayors to put in orders for zero-emissions buses in a bid to save the firm, Leishman posted on X to confirm that he was working with the UK government "to help save Scottish bus manufacturing".

The suspension of Leishman and others is the prime minister's latest attempt to tighten party discipline after his authority was undermined in the welfare vote.

Last year, he suspended seven MPs who voted against the government on a proposal to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

SNP deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart said: "It says it all that the only Labour MP who has dared stand up for Scotland has been suspended by Keir Starmer - simply because he refused to betray his constituents like every other Scottish Labour MP has done repeatedly."