Exclusive:Joe Fagan: Labour must be 'provocative' and 'disruptive' but work with SNP government
Joe Fagan has argued that Scottish Labour would become more relevant with voters if it could work more constructively with the Scottish government at Holyrood.
An MSP vying to become the next Scottish Labour leader has called for his party to be more "provocative" and "disruptive" at Holyrood.
Joe Fagan, the regional South Scotland MSP, has argued that Scottish Labour needs to become relevant to voters again following May’s dismal Holyrood election.
Mr Fagan, who was only first elected to Holyrood in May, vowed to work more constructively with the SNP government than his predecessors if he becomes the party's next leader.
He has also called for Scottish politics to end its obsession with the constitution, warning that "the Nicola Sturgeon era is over", adding that Scotland needs to move on.
READ MORE: Marra warns Labour could 'lose national status' over Glasgow focus as he addresses Sarwar split
Mr Fagan and Michael Marra will find out on Saturday who will become the next Scottish Labour leader following Anas Sarwar’s resignation to take up a peerage.
Speculation has mounted that Mr Fagan is being backed by influential deputy leader, Jackie Baillie after a falling out with Mr Marra over briefing allegations levelled at his inner circle following May’s poor election results.
Asked whether he was the continuity candidate and would simply be a leader to implement Dame Jackie’s agenda , Mr Fagan said: “Whatever it is I’m offering, it’s not continuity.
“I’m my own man and I’ll be putting together my own team. If I win this election, I’ll be Jackie Baillie’s boss.”
Mr Fagan argued that “a different perspective would benefit the party right now”, after Mr Marra previously suggested that Scottish Labour required experience at a time of crisis.
“If I didn’t think we needed something different, I wouldn’t have stood”, Mr Fagan said.
“I’ve got a lot of time for Michael. What he’s got on me is a term in the Scottish Parliament when it comes to politics.”
The former leader of South Lanarkshire Council argued that out of the 17 Labour MSPs at Holyrood, he is “the only one who has ever led an organisation”.
“I might be new to the Scottish Parliament, but I’m not new to politics”, he added.
Mr Fagan said that “overwhelmingly the collapse in support for the Starmer government” was the biggest factor in May’s election defeat, where the party lagged way behind the SNP and now has as many MSPs as Reform UK in joint second place.
In a dig at Mr Marra who played a key role in drawing up the party’s manifesto, Mr Fagan added: “I didn’t think our manifesto offering was provocative enough.
“We should have done more to define and differentiate ourselves as a political party in that last parliamentary term and in our manifesto, to come through the noise and show people we can change their lives.”
He also warned that voters have also been influenced by a “longer-term struggle that Scottish Labour’s had in coming to terms with the politics of devolution”.
Mr Fagan added: “We have lacked identity. People just didn’t feel that voting Labour would make a difference in their lives.
“One of the ways we can make Scottish Labour relevant again is actually to be assertive in the Scottish Parliament, be constructive in the Scottish Parliament. Hold the SNP to account, attempt to influence the budget process, use members’ bills to influence legislation and the agenda of the parliament.
“We need to make clear that we are here to work with the Scottish government where we can collaborate in the interests of working people. Where they will not serve or represent the interests of the working people, we will hold them to account.
“I do think a culture of constructive candour would help elevate the Scottish Parliament.”
He argued that “there’s no question that the Scottish Parliament needs disruptive change”.
But he warned that unlike Reform’s “dysfunction”, his leadership would bring about “disruptive change, not destructive change”.
“What we do next matters”, he said.
The South Scotland MSP has suggested that there is no pressure to listen to calls for a repeat of the 2014 independence referendum.
“The country is in a different place just now”, he said.
“The politics of process around a referendum is the politics of the Nicola Sturgeon era.
“The Nicola Sturgeon era is over. She’s not coming back. But we have to move the county on.”
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