New Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra promises 'politics with the doors open'
‘Our politics has to start and finish with people’ - Michael Marra MSP
Scottish Labour’s new leader Michael Marra has promised “politics with the doors open” after he was elected to replace Anas Sarwar.
The result of the contest, announced in Edinburgh on Saturday morning, gave Mr Marra 4,266 votes against 2,485 for his rival and fellow MSP Joe Fagan. Around half of Scottish members took part in the ballot.
Mr Marra, an MSP for North East Scotland since 2021, has served as education and finance spokesman and helped write the party’s manifesto for the Scottish Parliament election in May.
In his victory speech he told party activists: “Our politics has to start and finish with people. Rather than reaching straight for the political attack line, we should be convening all those who have been failed, building movements and alliances, and delivering change.
“That’s what Andy Burnham’s success in Manchester was all about. It was starting with the people and the policy, not the politics. My job as leader is to reconnect Labour’s values to where Scotland is today.”
And he said he had three priorities - open up the party and reconnect it with Scotland; recover Labour’s purpose and build a programme for the future; and deliver change now.
He continued: “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.
“We will bring our values to the table, but we will be led by people’s priorities. Where our approach is not working, we will change what we are doing. Together, we will build practical answers in the places where people live. That is politics with the doors open.”
Mr Marra takes over the role from Anas Sarwar who had led the party for five years before stepping down to take a seat in the House of Lords, where he now serves as a Trade Minister in Andy Burnham’s UK Government.
Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay said with Mr Marra’s victory, Scottish Labour was changing leader without changing direction. She said: “As one of the architects of the manifesto that delivered Labour its worst-ever Holyrood result, he cannot credibly present himself as the fresh start the party needs.
“His support for further North Sea oil and gas development also shows us that Scottish Labour still looks backwards.”
SNP depute leader Keith Brown congratulated Mr Marra. But he continued: “Scotland’s constitutional future should rest with the people of Scotland and Michael Marra should be absolutely clear from the get go that he supports that simple democratic concept.
“If the Labour Party continue to deny the people of Scotland their democratic right to choose our own future, they will continue to suffer defeat after defeat.”
And Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said the leadership election changed nothing. She said: “Michael Marra is just the new leader of a party who have repeatedly backed some of the SNP’s worst policies.
“They supported turning the taps off in Scotland’s oil and gas sector, backed Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act and Anas Sarwar whipped his MSPs to back Nicola Sturgeon’s toxic gender reforms.”