CANDIDATES in the Scottish Labour leadership and deputy leadership race are worried that turnout in the contest might be “staggeringly” low.

Despite the party announcement on Monday that 6,000 new supporters have signed up in Scotland, members feel “tired” and “defeated”.

Labour insiders say those new supporters are more interested in voting for Jeremy Corbyn in the national election than taking part in the Scottish leadership contest.

A source on one of the campaign teams told The National it was impossible to predict the result of the contest as “too few members were interested” in the race.

With near blanket support from constituency Labour Parties and trade unions, Kezia Dugdale is the favourite to win the the race for leader. A low turnout could boost her rival Ken MacIntosh.

The deputy leadership race looks tight, with Richard Baker and Gordon Matheson vying for Alex Rowley’s second preference votes.

Matheson today attends one of his final events of the campaign, an informal coffee session with Margaret Curran and party members in Stirling.

A spokesman for Ken MacIntosh said: “I think people who are supporting Ken are voting, and voting quite confidently. So I’m not worried in terms of our support. I think all throughout the contest people haven’t been really enthused by it. Party members are so tired given the way we lost so many seats. People feel defeated and heads are down. That’s why Ken is giving the final speech this weekend to try and rise some of the party members. To say to them ‘we can rebuild, but this is our chance to reclaim the party’.”

Alex Rowley’s spokesman said: “We’ve certainly had lots of responses from people who are asking for specific responses to specific policy questions. I’ve heard a lot of people who’ve said 'we were thinking of voting one way at the start and we’ve changed the way we’re going to vote the more that we’ve listened to the candidates'.”

Richard Baker MSP said: “It’s encouraging to see so many members, supporters and affiliates in Scotland and across the UK engage in the leadership contests. My pitch is to put members first: a leadership contest should only be the first step in harnessing the passion of our members.”

The campaign teams for Matheson and Kezia Dugdale did not return calls for comment.

Although the party may not be enthused about the Scottish elections, Corbyn-mania is, it seems, proving as popular in Scotland as much as it has in England and Wales. Yesterday Corbyn announced dates for events and discussion throughout Scotland. The Glasgow event sold out within an hour and organisers were looking to move to a bigger venue. Neil Findlay, the left-wing

MSP who is the chair of Corbyn’s campaign in Scotland, tweeted: “We’re going to need a bigger boat”.

However, Corbynmania does not seem to have peaked so much outside Glasgow. At the time of writing, only 27 people have booked tickets to see him in Aberdeen.