page_title: Richard Leonard (Scottish politician)
section_title: Political positions and views
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Leonard (Scottish politician) / Political positions and views
caption_attribution_description: The World Transformed 2018 in Liverpool
context_page_description: Richard Leonard is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2017. He is also a Member of the Scottish Parliament, serving as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland region since 2016.
  Born and raised in North Yorkshire, Leonard won a scholarship to be educated at Pocklington School. He moved to Scotland in the 1980s to study Politics and Economics at the University of Stirling. Prior to being elected, he worked as a trade unionist and political aide. He served as Chair of the Scottish Labour Party from 2002 to 2003 and was active in opposing the Iraq War. He unsuccessfully contested Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
  Leonard was first elected as an MSP at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. He defeated Anas Sarwar to win the 2017 Scottish Labour Party leadership election, succeeding Kezia Dugdale. He later took on the role of Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work in a 2018 frontbench reshuffle when he replaced Jackie Baillie.
context_section_description: During the 2019 general election campaign, Leonard described himself as a "socialist, democrat and internationalist". He has been described by journalists as being left-wing, on the hard left and hostile to business. His politics have been described by allies as radical, conviction-led and based around representing and helping people. An ally of Jeremy Corbyn, his closeness to Corbyn has been criticised as costing Scottish Labour in the polls. He is a long-standing member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which opposes the replacement of Trident with a new nuclear weapons system. However, he has stated he would defer to the position of the UK Labour Party, as defence is a non-devolved matter.
  Leonard has said he wants to fundamentally change the Scottish economy and has advocated a shift to a more planned, long-term approach to economic management. He is described in Tom Bower's biography Dangerous Hero: Corbyn's Ruthless Plot for Power as "a Marxist". When questioned over this assertion in an interview with Novara Media's Ash Sarkar, Leonard said, despite having read Marx, he would not describe his politics as Marxist but rather a synthesis of "Scottish radicalism" and those of "post-industrial Utopians".
  Leonard has stated leaving the United Kingdom would create larger problems for Scotland than the UK leaving the European Union. He is an opponent of a second Scottish independence referendum and has argued the 2014 referendum, in which Scotland voted to stay by 55% to 45%, was a once in a generation event. While the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48% in the 2016 EU referendum, Scotland itself voted to remain by 62% to 38%. Despite this, Leonard was initially in favour of the UK Labour Party's position of pursuing a "soft Brexit". In the aftermath of his party's poor result in the 2019 European Parliament election, he subsequently agreed to shift his pursuit to the UK remaining in the EU.
  Leonard has said he would support Scotland's red meat industry by investing more in abattoirs and rural supply chains, and would aim for full employment in the Highlands and Islands. He has stated Scottish Labour has "unfinished business" with land reform. He would replace council tax with a property and land tax to force tax burden onto those with more wealth and more land.
  A former trade unionist, Leonard argues the Scottish Government must recognise trade unions and pay a real living wage on all its public contracts. He has also discussed seeing working time as a unit of currency and aiming for a managed reduction in the length of work weeks. He advocates taking Scottish bus services into public ownership with the wider aim of making bus travel free for all. He is also in favour of nationalising the railways, removing Scotrail from private ownership by Abellio.
caption: Leonard speaking at the 2018 Labour Party conference's The World Transformed fringe event
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