The race to succeed Anas Sarwar as Scottish Labour leader has three contenders, after the former leader quit as an MSP to take a post in Andy Burnham's government through the House of Lords.
Joe Fagan, South Scotland regional MSP, has received the endorsement of colleague Paul Sweeney, who confirmed he will not be seeking nominations himself.
Mr Fagan is running against North East Scotland MSP Michael Marra and Monica Lennon, who is replacing Mr Sarwar as a Glasgow region MSP.
Sweeney: 'Not an easy decision'
Mr Sweeney said he had "thought long and hard" about entering the contest, but ultimately decided to support Mr Fagan. He said:
"That has not been an easy decision. I believe Scottish Labour needs to rediscover its confidence as a party of work, industry, housing, public services and community power. We need to speak again for the places that built Scotland, and for people who feel politics has become too distant from their lives. For me, the candidate best placed to carry that argument is Joe Fagan."
Mr Fagan, a former leader of South Lanarkshire Council, welcomed the support. He said:
"Paul understands that Scottish Labour cannot be a party of the Holyrood bubble. We have to bring our party back to the service of our movement and the people of Scotland."
Pitches to members
All three candidates have written for Scotland on Sunday, setting out their visions for the party.
Mr Fagan appeared to take a dig at the previous leader with the line: "I am not building the kind of career that ends in ermine."
Ms Lennon called for a "big tent" party and an end to internal disputes. She wrote:
"First, the factional infighting must end. Insiders who value personal loyalties over progressive action have often underestimated their colleagues. I’ve felt that, too."
Mr Marra said Scottish Labour had not been clear enough in its offer to voters at the Scottish Parliament election, when the party fell to 17 MSPs. He wrote:
"Highlighting the incompetence of the SNP is not an argument for why people should put their faith in Scottish Labour instead. People have seen what the SNP has done or hasn’t done with power for almost 20 years – people wanted to know what Scottish Labour would do tomorrow if we won power and that just wasn’t clear enough. What I want is for our party’s goals to become obvious and unmistakable."
