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Kezia Dugdale announces she’s standing to be Scottish Labour leader

22nd May, 2015 9:49 am

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Kezia Dugdale, Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour, has officially entered the contest to be Leader.

This comes after Jim Murphy’s surprise announcement that he was stepping down as Scottish Labour leader, despite narrowly winning a vote of no confidence among his colleagues.

Following Murphy’s announcement, it was widely thought that Dugdale would put her name forward. Now David Clegg from the Daily Record has reported that she’s officially in the race:

Dugdale is a MSP who has represented the Lothian region since 2011 and was elected as deputy leader in 2014. In putting her name forward, she joins Ken Macintosh, who confirmed he was seriously thinking about running earlier in the week.

Following Clegg’s tweet, Dugdale sent out the following message:

Update: Here’s Dugdale’s statement in full

“I am standing to be Scottish Labour Leader and I intend to transform my party for the good of my country.  

“I will formally launch my campaign next month when the Scottish Executive Committee sets out the rules and timetable for the leadership contest. At that point there will be much more to say on how we must meet the challenge ahead.

“This is a moment when Scottish Labour must and will change. It’s time for a new generation with a vision for the future of Scotland. 

“Labour lost badly in the General Election. Nothing we can say or do will disguise that fact. The job of our next leader isn’t to explain away that loss or find excuses – it’s to understand why people were so reluctant to vote for us and find a way of regaining the trust of the people of Scotland. 

“I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge Scottish Labour faces. But we’ve been the insurgent force before, pushing back against the political establishment and winning great victories and profound social change. We will be that force again. Our values are what we will carry forward with us – all the rest is baggage.  

“We have a mountain to climb, but I believe I offer a fresh start for Scottish Labour. The great social change we fight for is not a partisan cause. I can be a unifying figure across our party and our country. 

“As the daughter of two teachers I know the value of education. At its best it can transform the life chances of young people, no matter their background. The only way we can secure a fairer, brighter tomorrow for Scotland is by giving our young people a better start in life today. As Scottish Labour Leader that’s what I would work for every single day.”

  • Daniel Speight

    Hope there’s someone up there that has a clue as to what’s wrong. Somehow I suspect it’s not Kezia.

    • Sam Henly

      I’m sure many people have ideas, but I seriously doubt their ability to act on any of the important ones, given the state of the national LP. Would say shes brave but she can hardly screw it up much worse. V. interested in her thoughts on the leadership…

      • g978

        Shouldn`t she have resigned like the leader? Harriet did.

        • Chilbaldi

          this time, Harriet did.

  • swatnan

    Kesia is ok to take over from Jim, .Findlay is boring snoring.

    • Gor Don

      Findlay may not be leader material but he is good when interviewed. He is personable, polite and calm. I like him.

      • swatnan

        Leaders are not there to be like; they are there to lead.

        • Gor Don

          I did not say he was leader material.

    • uglyfatbloke

      She makes mincemeat of Kezia.

      • swatnan

        She’s an extremely good performer and makes meatloaves of Dave EdM and Clegg. Just wondering how long this Scottish Spring will last though. Probably till Independence Day, then the realities will dawn, as the Scots have to pay their way in the World and no more being subsidised by England..Independence will come at a price.

        • uglyfatbloke

          Scotland, the only known recipient of a negative subsidy.

        • Heidstaethefire

          Subsidised by England? Go and study economics, or at least arithmetic.

          • swatnan

            Yes, subsidised, its an inconvenient truth which the Scots are going to have to admit. The tax raising powers have always been there but never used, but the Scots have decided to stick with the Barnett Formula which is skewed in their favour.
            Did I hear that the Mansion Tax Reenue woud go towards reliving the poor Scots?

          • Heidstaethefire

            An inconvenient load of bollocks that has been refuted countless times. If I had a fiver for every time this argument had been demolished, I could solve Greece’s debt problems. To save us both s bit of time, Google John Jsppy, a former treasury mandarin

  • http://www.perfectlyplausible.com/ Iain Bartholomew

    This is intriguing. Must be potential leaders who’d like someone else to take the hit at the 2016 Holyrood elections before taking over a year from now. Surprised that Kezia Dugdale is not one of them. Perhaps she’s been out-manoeuvred?

  • Gor Don

    I think she could give Saint Nicola a run for her money.

    • Alecto

      Well given that she spent the past 5 months getting whooped by Sturgeon at FMQs, I highly doubt that.

      • uglyfatbloke

        I fear so. Positive spinning aimed at people who never watch FMQs is giving a very false impression of the state of play at Holyrood. We all expected a massive improvement after Lamont.

  • Alecto

    Very much doubt she’d deliver the kind of change and clean break Scottish Labour would need to recover, probably just more of the same bitterness and a-ideological scare tactics that have put voters off. But maybe Scottish Labour need someone like her to just squat in the post while they find someone real.

    • greenwich

      I like her. She was asked on Channel 4 during the election if Labour had a big problem in Scotland and – are you ready for this? – she gave an honest answer and said yes they did. You never know – Scots might like an honest Labour politician.

      • Alecto

        Can anyone honestly have said they don’t? It was blindingly obvious. I’d have to watch it to know if it was really honest, or just not denying something everyone knows to be blatantly true.

        Certainly haven’t ever got an honesty vibe from her on any of the FMQs I’ve seen.

        • greenwich

          You may be right. I have only ever seen her once on TV. But don’t underestimate the ability of politicians to deny the blindingly obvious. I gather that not all three-time Labour election-winning prime ministers accept that any problems in some parts of the middle east might be due to their actions.

      • Heidstaethefire

        If they could find one.

  • Derek Barker

    Sigh! no EGM? given the scale of the defeat and massive turn around voting.

    Kezia, and Scottish labour could well find themselves as a minor party that isn’t the opposition.

  • Heidstaethefire

    Given that she’s the acting leader now, she has only two choices; stand or resign. She’s probably chosen the wrong one.

  • Doug Smith

    “It’s time for a new generation with a vision for the future of Scotland.”

    So another failed Blairite steps forward to lead Scottish Labour… crazy!

    Quite amusing to read a report from Blairite comfort zone website Progress, from only six months ago: “under the leadership of her [Dugdale] and Jim Murphy we have indeed begun the difficult task of turning our party around and regaining the trust of the Scottish people.”

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