It was a privilege to be elected leader of the Scottish Labour party last week.
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Kedia Dugdale, who is Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothian Region, was elected by Scottish Labour members – winning 72.1% of the vote and beating out MSP Ken Macintosh.
Although the pair were barely on speaking terms by the end of the contest, Dugdale offered kind words in her victory speech to Macintosh, who also failed to win the leadership in 2011.
Commenting on the result of the Scottish Labour leadership contest, SNP Business Convener Derek Mackay said: “I congratulate Kezia Dugdale and Alex Rowley on their success and look forward to working together wherever we can for the benefit of everyone in Scotland”.
Today she will join shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, Edinburgh Southern candidate Daniel Johnson and activists for a campaign street event on the Meadows near the centre of Edinburgh.
On a visit to a nursery in Paisley later yesterday, Ms Dugdale said her priority would be to champion young people.
Ms Dugdale laughed and said: “He is wrong on many things, you would expect me to say that”.
I’m part of a new generation free from the baggage of the past, comfortable with post-devolution Scotland and looking to use the powers of the Scottish Parliament for a objective.
“I think he’s having three summer holidays, and he can do so in the blissful knowledge that the Labour Party will continue to talk about its own future rather than scrutinise his government’s record and what they plan to do in the future”.
Asked if she would be happy to see ex-MPs standing at Holyrood, Ms Dugdale, who was only elected leader on Saturday, said it was a “democratic process”.
“Kezia Dugdale’s election as leader is a chance for Labour to show it has learned”, he added.
“I would be delighted to work with any of the four of the UK leadership candidates”, Ms Dugdale said.
“The collective performance of Scottish politics in recent years just hasn’t been good enough”. Rowley has backed an “autonomous” Scottish party “free from the constraints” of UK Labour – a position opposed by Dugdale.
The SNP won 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland in the May 7 vote, in what was once one of Labour’s strongholds.
She now faces an uphill task to avoid another heavy defeat to the SNP in May’s Holyrood elections, with polls showing the Nationalists on course to increase their majority.
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Pressed to reveal her stance on Trident, she said: “You can ask the question as many ways as you like, you will get the same answer”.
