Former Scottish Labour leader says there’s no “quick fix” to the party’s problems

Johann Lamont, former Scottish Labour leader, has given her first broadcast interview since she resigned from the position last year. In it she said that there is no “quick fix” to the party’s problems.

This comes after the SNP won 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland, and Labour lost all but one of their 41 seats. Lamont said this outcome was worse for Scottish Labour than anyone “possibly imagined”.

Lamont, who was leader of the party from 2011 to 2014, went on to say that the party should elect a leader “for the long haul” – as Jim Murphy, who succeeded Lamont as leader, announced he’d be resigning in May .

She also argued that the SNP had give Scottish Labour “a lesson in how to run a campaign”, saying leader Nicola Sturgeon had been “completely in control”:

“It seems to me they got everything right, and Nicola Sturgeon has become a politician over many years. She was the most experienced person on the podium during the leaders’ debate, and that shone out.”

She told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

“Even those of us who were preparing for the worst possible defeat couldn’t possibly have imagined what happened.

“We couldn’t have predicted it, but we need to analyse it if we’re going to survive.

“The instinct of the Labour Party is if there’s a problem, change the leader, then sit back, fold your arms and wait to be disappointed because they’re sure it’s not going to deliver.

“We can’t do that this time. We need to elect a leader not on a short term contract, but a long term appointment for the long haul. There is no quick fix to this, there are not any ploys, not any gimmicks, that will get us through the next period

“That therefore means people were putting faith not just in individual candidates, but putting faith in a message that was coming to them from the SNP.

Jim Murphy will step down as Scottish Labour leader on 13th June. Kezia Dugdale, deputy leader of the party, has said she’s standing for the leadership. Ken Macintosh, has also confirmed he’s seriously thinking about running.