Exclusive:Return of whip to two suspended Labour MPs gives me hope, says suspended Brian Leishman

Brian Leishman said it was “positive” that fellow MPs John McDonnell and Apsana Begum had returned to the PLP. He told The Scotsman he hopes he will follow suit soon.

Mr Leishman also lavished praise on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar for his Labour conference speech.

The Alloa and Grangemouth MP lost the Labour whip in July after breaching party discipline and publicly criticising the government.

Mr McDonnell and Ms Begum were among seven MPs who had the whip suspended just weeks after the general election for supporting an amendment to the King’s Speech to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

They both had the whip restored last month as speculation mounts that the limit will be scrapped by the Labour government.

Mr Leishman said: “Conference got off to a positive start with the news that John McDonnell and Apsana Begum had the whip restored and from a personal viewpoint I hope that I will be readmitted back into the Parliamentary Party soon.”

He attended the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool earlier this week despite being suspended from the Westminster group.

Mr Leishman spoke at various events and was positive about how the conference went. He said: “It was great to spend a few days down in Liverpool at Labour conference.

“From a Scottish perspective, it was a huge success, Anas talked about the positive differences only a Labour government makes - the New Deal for Working People that is the biggest upgrade to workers rights in a generation and the fact that people are thousands of pounds better off with that being incredibly important and showing the potential for change Scotland would benefit from by having a Labour Prime Minister in Downing Street and a Labour First Minister in Bute House.

“It was also brilliant to attend and speak at some terrific fringe events and hear from expert speakers on a wide range of subjects and listen to Labour Party members on what they want from us in government.”

Mr Leishman was among four Labour MPs who lost the whip earlier this year. He has been a regular critic of the Labour government since being elected last year.

Mr Leishman has been particularly vocal about the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery, which is in his constituency.

He called for the UK government to step in and save the plant, but it has refused to do so.

Mr Leishman was also one of four Scottish Labour MPs who voted against the government's welfare reforms earlier this year. He also signed an SNP amendment on compensating Waspi women, and recently backed a Nationalist MP’s bill to get rid of the two-child cap.

Mr Leishman said it was not fair that he was unable to nominate fellow left-winger Bell Ribeiro-Addy for the Labour deputy leadership because he had been suspended from the PLP.

Ms Ribeiro-Addy did not gain enough nominations to make it onto the ballot. Labour said that whipping matters are for the chief whip and that is does not provide “a running commentary” on such matters.