The Scottish Labour Party has elected a new leader.
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Dugdale will face the daunting task of rebuilding support for Labour in Scotland, where the party lost all but one of its 41 seats in the London-based Parliament of the United Kingdom in the May 7 election.
The MSP won the contest by a large majority, taking 72.1 percent of the vote, compared with 27.9 percent taken by Macintosh.
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and his deputy Kezia Dugdale MSP walk through the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
“I know that the past few months have been incredibly hard for Labour members across the country”, she said. I am not so presumptuous to ask instantly for your vote.
He said: ” I want to offer the Scottish people hope again – I want to transform the Scottish Labour Party into a positive force for real change in Scotland. We are down but we are not out.
The leader and deputy leader will be elected under a one-member-one-vote system after reforms to the election process were brought forward by Mr Murphy.
Speaking on Bauer Radio’s Scotland’s Talk In, Ms Dugdale said: “Four months is a long time to pad out with policy announcements and talking about what happened in the general election, and I think it has created a space where a lot of animosity has come in”. It has been widely reported that he intends to stand down as Glasgow Labour leader at the next local party annual general meeting.
The young Aberdonian will also have to navigate the final weeks of the UK Labour leadership battle, with Left-wing favourite Jeremy Corbyn among the first to congratulate her yesterday.
During an interview with KaleidoScot, Dugdale made substantial commitments towards LGBTI equality in Scotland.
“Take another look at the Scottish Labour Party”.
She said there were, in her view, two reasons “that led so many people to lose faith in us”.
Voting in the election for the new Scottish Labour leader has closed.
“Kezia Dugdale’s election as leader is a chance for Labour to show it has learned”, he added.
“And yes, if we need more powers, then the Labour Party in Scotland should be in a position to take those powers to tackle poverty, tackle inequality, create fairness and create a better and more just Scotland”, he added.
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Acting Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said: “There is no denying the scale of the challenge facing Scottish Labour”.
