Scottish Labour leadership contender takes swipe at Anas Sarwar joining House of Lords
Monica Lennon, Michael Marra and Joe Fagan have all written for Scotland on Sunday to set out their pitch for leader.
The Scottish Labour leadership race has heated up after contenders took a swipe at Anas Sarwar for joining the House of Lords, vowed to end infighting and pledged to unify the party.
Monica Lennon, Michael Marra and Joe Fagan have all written for Scotland on Sunday to set out their pitches for leader.
Mr Fagan said “you will never see my name on a list for the House of Lords”, while Ms Lennon said “the factional infighting must end” and Mr Marra promised to “unite and renew” the party.
The leadership election is taking place after Mr Sarwar quit the Scottish Parliament to take up a place in the Lords and become a UK government business minister.
South Scotland MSP Mr Fagan - who was only elected as an MSP in May - criticised the man he hopes to succeed.
He wrote: “ Let me be plain about myself. I am in this for Scotland and nowhere else. I am not building the kind of career that ends in ermine. You will never see my name on a list for the House of Lords. I want to serve the country I am from, and then go home to East Kilbride.”
He also seemed to take a swipe at Mr Marra by writing: “Scottish Labour will not recover by talking to itself. We will not recover by offering a tidier version of the same politics people have already turned away from. We will recover by being rooted in places again, focused on people’s daily lives and clear about what we would do with power.
“Continuity will not cut it. Scottish Labour needs to seize this municipal moment, build local power and local wealth, and prove again that we are on people’s side.”
Ms Lennon said she would lead a “big-tent party where ideas flourish”.
She wrote: “The next leader faces the huge challenge of remaking Scottish Labour as a progressive movement fit for a modern Scotland.
“First, the factional infighting must end. Insiders who value personal loyalties over progressive action have often underestimated their colleagues. I’ve felt that too.”
She continued: “I want a big-tent party where ideas flourish. I’m the candidate who believes in uniting a broad coalition - urban and rural, young and old, unionist and independence-supporting alike.
“Parliamentary colleagues, councillors, grassroots members, affiliates and people who want Scottish Labour to succeed have encouraged me to stand. We owe them a fair contest and the courage to do politics differently.”
Mr Marra said Labour “wasn’t clear enough” about what it would have done with power at May’s Scottish Parliament election.
He wrote: “Highlighting the incompetence of the SNP is not an argument for why people should put their faith in Scottish Labour instead.
“People have seen what the SNP has done or hasn’t done with power for almost 20 years – people wanted to know what Scottish Labour would do tomorrow if we won power and that just wasn’t clear enough.
“What I want is for our party’s goals to become obvious and unmistakable.”
He continued: “That is my goal - to unite and renew the Scottish Labour party. I believe we can rebuild trust in politics. I believe we can renew Scottish Labour.
“And I believe we can once again become the party of hope for Scotland. I am asking my fellow party members to put their trust in me to unite and renew our party.”
You can read all three Scottish Labour leadership contest pieces in Scotland on Sunday or The Scotsman website.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.