New Labour leader told: forget about Alex Salmond

FORMER First Minister Henry McLeish has told the incoming Labour leader to forget about Alex Salmond if the party is to win back the “tens of thousands” of voters who have turned their back on it.

The new Labour leader will be announced today, seven months after Iain Gray announced he was stepping down from the job in light of the disastrous Holyrood election defeat.

Current deputy leader Johann Lamont was favourite last night to succeed Mr Gray, with Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh also in contention. The third candidate, MP Tom Harris is now out of the running.

For the first time, whoever is elected to succeed him will head the party across the country rather than just in Holyrood. The change follows a widespread review into party structures north of the Border and is aimed at distancing the Scottish leader from Westminster control. It also opens the way for MPs and MEPs to hold senior positions.

Mr McLeish, who succeeded the late Donald Dewar as party leader in 2001, said the victor must focus on Labour’s vision for the future.

He said: “I believe out there, there are tens of thousands of people who want to vote Labour but currently see no good reason for doing it.

“There are still fundamental issues about the constitution, about the economy, about education, about health, that we’ve got to grapple. But my main plea is: let’s forget about what the SNP are saying and let’s actually focus on a Labour party that’s positive, a Labour party that’s going forward.”

More than 300,000 ballot papers were sent out last month, with members of the party, affiliated trade unions and other organisations all given a say in who the new leader should be.

Voting in the contest closed on Wednesday and the result will be declared in Edinburgh.

Mr McLeish added: “We have to answer the question of what does Labour stand for in an era of remarkable change.

“Labour doesn’t have a vision currently. The party has got to be enthusiastically Scottish and to no longer look over its shoulder to Westminster.

“There is so much unfairness in society, with high pay for chief executives as just one example. Labour has got to confront these ethical questions through its policies. I would like to think that the new leader will not get caught up in the gladiatorial battle of First Minister’s questions every week.

“There are bigger issues and I’d expect the leader to be out and about in Scotland more talking to people and campaigning.

“Alex Salmond is a formidable politician and it will be very difficult to get the upper hand. I wouldn’t want the new Scottish Labour leader to be frustrated if this doesn’t happen. Alex Salmond is beatable, but there’s more to political life that and the new leader should not put all her political eggs in one basket.

“There will be occasions, when the new leader can undermine Alex Salmond at First Minister’s questions. If the new leader can make hits then she should do it, but she shouldn’t make it her reason for living.”

The party is facing a “challenging set of local elections next year” when the SNP is expected to target Labour-dominated Glasgow in the poll to elect Scotland’s 32 councils, Mr McLeish added. He insisted the party can hold on to the city, adding: “People in Glasgow want to vote Labour.”

The former First Minister warned that the new leader cannot hide from the “constitutional question” as he called on the party to call for more powers for Holyrood to “pursue social justice”.

He said: “I have a position that ‘devo max’ is the way to go forward and I hope there is support for that in the party in Scotland. But either way we need to have a debate about more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

“There is a real threat and danger to the party. There’s a danger during the next five years that if the SNP continues with populist policies, but with an ineffective opposition that we will drift further towards independence.

“The new leader has got to show an alternative. I support devo max, but whatever the party’s says there has to be an alternative to independence.

“For 12 years the party has not addressed this. The party has traditionally said that the constitutional questions don’t matter, but the new leader has got to acknowledge the issue if they are to successfully confront nationalism.”