“The voters who deliver the verdict are never at fault – the defeated party is.” – Jim Murphy’s full resignation speech

The most difficult thing for any party to realise after a defeat is that it has to change.

 

The voters who deliver the verdict are never at fault – the defeated party is.

 

This can be challenging, because parties – from top to bottom – are run by people whose commitment comes from their love of country and commitment to their party.

 

Political arguments that have outlived their political salience are, too often, cherished faithfully and firmly.

 

Ways of doing politics that no longer work are protected, simply because they are what we inherit, and have been built patiently and carefully over the years, invested with decades of voluntary service and hard work.

 

The defeat last month was terrible for the Scottish Labour Party, but it makes the difficult argument for reform far easier.

 

If anything good can come from such a painful defeat, it is that we are free to be bolder in our message, to reach further into the population for talent, and to renew our organisation to better reflect modern Scotland.

 

The defeat was traumatic and so it is right that, today, we announce a set of changes that are dramatic.

 

When I announced my intention to step down as leader of the Scottish Labour Party, I made it clear that I didn’t want to do what had happened in the past – when a leader departed and left the party in crisis, without doing the hard work to help set the organisation on a path back to recovery.

 

I said that I would spend the month producing a report for the renewal of the Scottish Labour Party and submit it to the Party’s Executive, which I have now done.

 

But I was determined to go much further than that. We produced reports after our 2007 and 2011 defeats, and we implemented some of their findings.

 

Other recommendations are still gathering dust on a forgotten shelf. So today I asked the Scottish Labour Party to accept my report in full and implement it urgently.

 

This is what they have decided to do.

 

We have agreed radical changes in the way our party organises and operates.

 

There are five sets of changes:

 

Firstly. On the election of a new leader.

 

The election of the next leader of the Scottish Labour Party will not be by one member one vote.

 

We want to be more ambitious and open up our democracy to beyond our members.

So we will abolish the arcane electoral college, so that our members and affiliated supporters will decide our next leader.

 

There will be no block votes or super votes – instead we will vote by one-person, one vote where every individual vote is worth the same.

 

Secondly. On list MSPs and the selection processes.

 

I’m very proud of the work of Labour’s list MSPs.

 

But our current rules are unfair and have operated a type of closed shop where sitting MSPs are protected at the top of the list, and where their election doesn’t come on polling day, but on internal selection day.

 

So we will abolish the closed shop arrangements for list MSPs so that every Labour Party member has a fair chance of standing for the list, and so that incumbency isn’t a guarantee of re-selection.

 

I want every current list MSP to stand in those selections.

 

Thirdly. On the selection of our councillors.

 

Labour has nearly 400 councillors in Scotland and they are often the most innovative politicians and we will now consider establishing a national selection panel to continue to ensure that Labour councillors who have the experience, knowledge and energy to build strong communities and great towns and cities across Scotland.

 

Fourthly. Last month we lost many brilliant Labour MPs who were great champions for their communities and our country.

 

Part of our learning about our defeat will be to guarantee a broader range of candidates for the 2020 general election.

 

Doing things differently is important as we renew our party, so I am delighted that the Scottish Labour Party has agreed in principle to my recommendation that we should consider the use of primaries in the selection of MP candidates for future elections.

 

Finally, I know that the Scottish Labour Party has to change even more to look and sound like modern Scotland.

 

Today that is what we agreed to do by deciding to have a more open approach to selecting our candidates at all levels.

 

Too often we judge would-be candidates by how many leaflets they have delivered, how many meetings they have attended and how long they have been in the party.

 

And while commitment to the party will always be crucial, strong candidates can have other attributes other than time served.

 

The Labour Party has a little known rule where we can waive the qualifying period to allow supporters to become members then candidates.

 

We have agreed today that we should make much more of this. From now on Scottish Labour will actively publicise the rule that says, “come and join us, and come and stand for us”.

 

We want business people, charity workers, NHS staff and many others who support Labour to stand for Labour – even if up until now they never felt able to join Labour.

 

I believe the reforms we put in place today will stand my successor in good stead and offer the chance of renewal for our party.

 

I also believe they offer our party across the UK an example of how to renew ourselves in defeat.

 

As for myself – after I have make a speech on Monday about the future of the party, I will leave the stage.

 

I will be a source of discreet advice – if asked for it by my successor – and I will always be an active and faithful servant of the party that I love so much.

 

Any insights I offer to those who come after me will be in private. As Nicola Sturgeon is learning, very little good comes from a leader who steps down but doesn’t shut up.

 

Much less tongue in cheek I would like to thank the members of the media for their hard work.

 

Too often we, who are on the receiving end of scrutiny and, sometimes, scorn from the media, forget that you too have devoted your lives to public service.

 

Now more than ever, with a single party commanding a clear majority of parliamentarians in both of Scotland’s parliaments, your role in holding unprecedented power to account is significant.

 

We live in a moment of history where nationalism seems more important than solidarity, and identity much stronger than class.

 

But it is, I believe, just a moment and not Scotland’s destiny.

 

Scottish Labour is an extraordinary movement. It is full of people who devote their lives, not to helping themselves, but to improve the lot of other people.

 

For all our individual, and collective, faults and failings, the fact that there is a political party that exists to empower those who lack wealth, power and opportunity is a very precious thing.

 

I want particularly want to thank party members for the honour of leading the party.

 

Now I look forward to answering your questions, and then I will move aside to allow others to maintain Scottish Labour’s great cause.