Michael Marra under no illusion over long road ahead to rebuild Scottish Labour
Michael Marra faces an uphill battle to transform Scottish Labour back into a political force at Holyrood.
Anas Sarwar, since quitting to join the House of Lords, has claimed Scottish Labour leader is the most difficult job in Scottish politics - and Michael Marra is under no illusion that a lot of work lies ahead is he is to transform the party into a genuine force at Holyrood.
The challenge facing Mr Marra is daunting. He has denied the party needs to become relevant again, something Mr Fagan warned was needed. But the new leader is under no illusion at the amount of work at hand to recover from May’s humiliating election result.
We have seen hints from Scottish Labour, since Mr Sarwar left to take up his peerage, that they might forge a new, more constructive relationship with the SNP government. Jackie Baillie, who has been filling in as acting leader, took a much more collegiate tone with John Swinney in a sombre violence against women and girls debate earlier last week - and called out Reform UK for spreading misinformation and attempting to create division.
Mr Marra has explicitly said he will work as constructively as he can with Mr Swinney. This strategy makes sense, given the destructive and underwhelming performance of Reform at Holyrood since the election. But we will have to wait and see whether Labour working in a more grown-up way with the SNP sticks or is ripped up amid the most hostile politics that Holyrood has ever seen.
Despite big vows about having to chart a course for change, Mr Marra has some of his fingerprints all over Scottish Labour’s election defeat, given he played a crucial role in drawing up the lacklustre manifesto.
The party has, legitimately, received criticism for a lack of ideas - essentially pitting itself as a more competent management to implement the SNP’s policies. The Scottish public resoundingly disagreed in May.
READ MORE: Marra warns Labour could 'lose national status' over Glasgow focus as he addresses Sarwar split
The new leader has also faced criticism as Scottish Labour’s finance spokesperson for abstaining on the SNP’s budget in an attempt to end any dramatics over whether the minority government at Holyrood could see its spending plans pass.
But Mr Marra’s strategy has essentially seen his party lose all influence on what money is and isn’t spent on when both the Lib Dems and Greens have been able to tell their voters what they have achieved in parliament.
It is difficult to put your finger on anything the current cohort of Scottish Labour MSPs has delivered for the public at Holyrood other than Monica Lennon’s groundbreaking period poverty legislation.
Mr Marra has acknowledged that Scottish Labour views Scotland through a lens of 25 years ago and needs to both modernise to offer something to the nation in 2026 and stop limiting its appeal to middle class voters.
Rebuilding Scottish Labour, once again, is a long-term project, but politics has no patience. Mr Marra is already staring down a potential disastrous set of local council elections next year.
Acknowledging that his party has got it wrong under Mr Sarwar will be the first of many steps if Scottish Labour is to put itself in a position to ever form a government at Holyrood again. At the moment, that prospect looks and feels like an impossibility.
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