Share this article:
Polls have just closed in the election to decide the next leader and deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party. In this week’s LabourList survey we asked readers who they would like to see win the two races.
In the leadership race, Kezia Dugdale topped out survey with 47% of the vote, with Ken Macintosh receiving 22% – and the rest going to ‘don’t know’.
Dugdale served as deputy leader under Jim Murphy, but stood back from the role to run for leader in June. Macintosh stood unsuccessfully in the 2011 leadership contest, in which he won the support of both Murphy and Dugdale.
Speaking as the polls closed as noon today, Dugdale said:
“The time for licking our wounds is long over. If I am elected tomorrow I’ll hit the ground running. Because for too many people in Scotland their ability to get on in life isn’t determined by their talent, hard work and ambition, but by the circumstances they were born into.”
Readers who took part in our survey also voted for their preference in the deputy leadership race. This vote was much closer, with Alex Rowley finishing on 39%, just four points higher than leader of Glasgow City Council Gordon Matheson on 35%. Richard Baker was third on 26%.
If these results were replicated tomorrow, second preferences of Baker’s supporters would be taken into account.
More from LabourList
Spring Statement: List of councillors quitting over welfare amid further cuts
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook dominates airwaves on broadcast rounds
Scottish Parliament elections 2026: Full list of Labour candidates for Holyrood