SOCIALIST MPs have rallied behind Monica Lennon as she battles to secure a place in the contest to lead the Scottish Labour Party.

The Glasgow MSP and former chair of the Scottish Labour Trade Union Group already has the backing of Unison, with more expected to follow.

But concerns are being raised that there has been a concerted effort to keep her off the ballot paper as rivals Michael Marra and Joe Fagan hoover up MSP nominations.

Offering their support, Unison Scotland Labour Link vice chair Janine Langler made clear that Ms Lennon was best placed to battle SNP jobs cuts plans.

She said: “The Scottish Labour leader must stand up for public services and fight the SNP’s plans to axe 20,000 jobs as part of cuts amounting to a billion pounds. 

“Scotland has the longest NHS waiting lists since devolution, social care’s in crisis and councils have serious financial problems. Public services need investment, not cuts.”

That plea could yet fall on deaf ears unless at least one more Scottish representative in both Westminster and Holyrood join Katy Clark MSP, and MPs Brian Leishman and Euan Stainbank in backing Ms Lennon.

MSP Carol Mochan is the only Labour member at Holyrood yet to confirm their nomination and the last chance Ms Lennon has to be put before members.

Ms Lennon called the race for the leadership of Scottish Labour is about finding “our party’s missing soul” and that it was “in the last-chance saloon.”

Addressing MPs and her fellow MSPs, Ms Lennon wrote in the Sunday Mail that they “cannot act like a private club for parliamentarians alone.”

“Our real strength, weight and power lies with our grassroots activists, our affiliated trade unions, our councillors, and the working-class communities we were built to serve,” she said.

“If we attempt to rebuild from the top down, we will fail again.

“But if we embrace a radical overhaul from the ground up, there is no limit to what we can achieve.

“Together, we can reignite the socialist heart of our movement, and deliver the transformative Scottish Labour Party the people of Scotland so urgently deserve.”

SNP MSP Jack Middleton said:  “While Anas Sarwar swans about the Fringe, his faithful servants have been left to scavenge a successor from the rubble of their electoral destruction.”