Michael Marra succeeds Lord Anas Sarwar in the role
New Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra has pledged to “start taking action now” to help his party win back the support of voters.
He spoke about the need to “reconnect with the country” if Labour is to win power at Holyrood again.
But the new leader – who defeated fellow MSP Joe Fagan to become the 11th Scottish Labour leader of the devolution era – accepted that “journey and that process will take time”.
Mr Marra, a North East Scotland MSP who has served as his party’s education spokesperson and finance spokesperson, polled 4,266 votes from party members and affiliates, comfortably defeating Mr Fagan, who secured 2,485.
While slightly less than half of the party’s members voted – 49.4% took part in the ballot – the new leader insisted he has “a really strong mandate in terms of the share of the vote”.
Vowing to do this job the “best way I can”, Mr Marra said being elected as the new Scottish Labour leader was “a huge responsibility as well as a privilege”.
And although he said he is “looking forward to the task ahead of me” he added he was “not naïve to the scale of the challenge”
Speaking after his election, he said: “May hurt so much because we know the SNP didn’t deserve a fifth term in power.
Labour, he insisted, “must reconnect with the country if we are ever to form a government in Holyrood”.
Mr Marra added: “We’ve got a big job ahead of us in terms of reconnecting right across the country and we’re going to get on with doing that job.”
To help with that, he pledged: “In my first 100 days, I will take Scottish Labour out of the bubble of parliament and back into the country.
“We will work with people in their communities to understand what matters most, what is changing in their lives, and what they want for the future.”
As well as seeking to “reconnect” his party with Scots, he made it a priority to “recover Labour’s purpose and build a programme for the future”.
Speaking to journalists after the leadership contest result was declared, Mr Marra reiterated his support for giving both the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields the go-ahead.
“I want Rosebank and Jackdaw to be approved,” he said.
But to further help the oil and gas sector, he also said Andy Burnham’s Government at Westminster should reform the windfall tax on the industry “needs to happen sooner” than the planned 2030 date for the charge to be replaced.
And while Scottish First Minister John Swinney is pushing for a second independence referendum before the end of this current Holyrood term in 2031, Mr Marra said he did “not believe there is a hunger for a referendum in this country”.
He said: “I understand why many people backed independence in 2014 and continue to do so.
“I’m from Dundee, which backed independence at a higher level than any other part of Scotland – friends and family voted yes in 2014.”
To counter support for independence, he said Labour has “to make sure we make that case for a stronger Scotland”.
And he added: “This country has got weaker in the last 10 years, rather than stronger. We have got a weaker education system, we have got a weaker NHS, we have got a weaker economy.”