Joe Fagan has claimed he is "not the continuity candidate" in a swipe at Michael Marra as the race to become the next Scottish Labour leader intensified. The former council chief, who has only been an MSP for a matter of weeks, used an STV debate to distance himself from his party's dismal performance at the Holyrood election in May.
Blame over election defeat
Marra, one of the chief architects of the 2026 Scottish Labour manifesto, was asked by Fagan: "You were in Anas Sarwar's shadow cabinet. You were one of the authors that led us to that defeat in May, and in a previous life, you worked with Iain Gray.
"You'll have seen the collapse in Labour in 2011 when a polling lead was turned into a landslide defeat. A lot of party members will be wanting to know - you didn't have the answers then, why should we trust you to have the answers now?"
Marra responded: "You don't live a life in the Scottish Labour party over the last 20 years without knowing there's ups and downs along the way - and there has been more lows than there has been highs."
Manifesto and leadership
On the issue of the manifesto, Marra said: "The leader gets, in the end, the manifesto that they want. There's a process we go through as a party, and then the leader puts their stamp on it. And I've always been a team player.
"But a manifesto under my leadership will be entirely different. We have to inspire the country and put hope back at the centre of our politics."
Asked by STV host Colin Mackay if he viewed Marra as the continuity candidate in the race, Fagan said: "I don't think a kind of continuity Starmerism is what we need right now in Scottish politics. We need a new approach, we need to learn the lessons of what has just happened in May."
Briefing culture and unity
Mackay then asked the same question to Marra - and suggested Fagan had "Anas Sarwar's team working for him". Marra responded: "You'll have seen negative briefing about me in the press in recent weeks. It doesn't feel like being the continuity candidate.
"It's when you're the threat to the establishment, when you want to shake things up and change the direction of the party, that's when people come at you."
Marra added: "In our party, our briefing culture has gone on for far too long. We need to unite and bring people together."
Asked if he thought Marra had got "it wrong" over Labour's pre-election Budget negotiations, Fagan added: "I think Anas Sarwar's shadow cabinet got it wrong, because I'm not the continuity candidate."
