Scottish Labour leadership: candidates answer readers' questions
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Version 0 of 1. 2.30pm GMT14:30 That’s it – all answers have been posted below now. You can refresh the page to see updated posts with answers from all the leadership candidates. Thanks to the three candidates – Neil Findlay, Jim Murphy and Sarah Boyack – for taking part. The new leader of the Scottish Labour party will be unveiled on 13 December. Thanks especially to all of you who posted questions here and on @GdnScotland. Apologies to those whose questions we couldn’t get round to; we did try our best to cover a wide range of subjects. Thank you for reading. 2.09pm GMT14:09 What's your favourite soft drink? Time for one final question: Jim, what is your favourite soft drink and why? Jim Murphy Sean, I’m guessing you already know the answer to that. I spent the referendum standing on two Irn Bru crates on 100 street corners often with a bottle of the stuff in my hand. I think Scotland is one of just two countries where Coke isn’t the top selling soft drink and I’m one of the Scots who helps make that the case. Neil Findlay Irn Bru – but to be frank I prefer a cold pint of another iconic Scottish refreshment. Sarah Boyack Water. I don’t really do soft drinks, except occasionally. Water is low-cal, generally free and is good for you. Updated at 2.25pm GMT 1.57pm GMT13:57 The live hustings is coming to a close – I’m filling in the missing answers below as they are filed to me, so do refresh the page to see them appear. There will be one final question after all those below are updated. 1.45pm GMT13:45 How to win back disillusioned Labour supporters? For all: I was a Labour party member who gave up his membership 10 years ago due to Iraq. Since then I have been utterly dillusioned with the party in general, and in Scotland in particular. My question is this: how would you rebuild Labour in such a way that the many of us who have walked away from the party might consider coming back? Neil Findlay Well, I was opposed to the Iraq war then and my view hasn’t changed. I was very proud last year when Ed Miliband kept the UK out of a war on Syria. It is vital that we tackle the mistrust that developed over Iraq and an approach that often seemed overly friendly to the rich and powerful compared to working people. This obscured a lot of the really good work done by the last Labour government. For me, the clue is in the name “Labour”. We need to be, and be seen to be, the party that stands up for working people; the party of more and better jobs; 50,000 more social houses (and it’s good to see Jim supporting my initiative on how we could deliver more social housing). Jim Murphy Good question. I know that a lot of people have drifted away from the party, either in recent years or during the referendum. But I am confident we can win people like you back. I have three priorities that I hope you agree are right for Scotland. First, I want to unite Scotland after the referendum. Second, I want to increase prosperity so that we have the taxes we need to improve our schools and hospitals. And thirdly, I want to reduce poverty, especially the scandal of in-work poverty. Practical steps to do that would be by campaigning for a living wage to give a pay rise to up to half a million Scots and asking the wealthiest to pay a little bit more so that we can support small businesses and tackle poverty. But it’s also about a different way of doing politics. I want to convince people that Scottish Labour has a confident, positive vision for what Scotland can achieve, not by shouting at them or our opponents, but by showing how we can create the better and fairer county that we all want to live in. Sarah Boyack We’re in a new era in Scottish politics. The Smith commission gives us what most people want – a stronger, more accountable Scottish parliament within the UK. We get the benefits of pooling and sharing our resources with communities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and we get a modernised devolution settlement. For me that’s a good result following on from the referendum campaign and discussions we had. The issue now is how are those powers used. That’s why I’ve put social, environmental and economic justice at the heart of my leadership campaign. We had an 85% turnout in the referendum and well attended debates and discussions across the country. There’s a real debate and energy in the Labour party about how we move forward again. Now would be a good time to join us again. Updated at 2.25pm GMT 1.39pm GMT13:39 Lessons from the referendum Looking back over the referendum, is there anything, as leader you would do differently? Neil Findlay Well, I wouldn’t have formed Better Together … Having addressed 60-odd meetings the length and breadth of Scotland arguing for a no vote and along the way debating Nicola Sturgeon, Jim Sillars, Tommy Sheridan, etc (all the fun gigs) on the basis of solidarity and our common interests with working people in the rest of the UK, it was this message that had some resonance, rather than the assertion of British identity which was all BT could offer. Also “you’re in bed with the Tories” was an easy – and, from our point of view, avoidable – hit. That has done us damage that will take significant work to repair. We should have started a much more upfront Labour campaign much earlier on. Jim Murphy We should have been more confident in our arguments. We allowed ourselves to be portrayed as the status quo party and I’m not interested in defending things as they are. It was also wrong to allow the SNP to capture the flag and symbols of patriotism. The politics of identity and pride in our country belong to no single party. I don’t believe it was a mistake to get involved in Better Together. I know some people feel differently. But in a country with over 4 million voters we needed to reach out beyond our base and involve people who weren’t involved in party politics. For me that was the success and importance of Better Together – it gave a space to people who were unaligned to get involved and to work with the Labour party. A lot of those volunteers have since joined the Labour party. That’s a good thing. Sarah Boyack Benefit of hindsight is always good … I’d have wanted a stronger United With Labour campaign to sit alongside Better Together. We should have made more of our devolution commission proposals, Power for a Purpose, which set out our case for a stronger Scottish Parliament within the UK and powers to communities. Updated at 1.52pm GMT 1.30pm GMT13:30 Is the leadership vote democratic? As a Labour member I get one vote. My MP gets four votes (as an MP, as Union member, as a member of the Co-op and as a member.) Is that democratic? Neil Findlay The party has a federal structure: I very much value our links with the trade unions and the role played by other affiliates such as the Coop and the likes of the Fabians. Our democracy reflects that and I have no plans to change it. I’d encourage all LP members – in fact, every worker – to be in a trade union. Jim Murphy I believe in one person one vote, where everyone’s vote is equal. If it’s good enough for a general election it’s good enough for a Labour leadership election. Some people try to misrepresent this as negative about unions. It’s not. I want rid of the parliamentarian’s golden vote. I want a stronger relationship with trade unionists based upon important policy ideas and I want more individual union members as party members. If I am elected leader I will move to the system that we will use in future UK leadership elections, which will mean that everybody’s vote is equal. Sarah Boyack We should have one member one vote. Updated at 1.51pm GMT 1.28pm GMT13:28 Scotland’s health outcomes For all: Some areas in Scotland have the worst health outcomes in the UK. How would you go about tackling public health issues such as obesity, smoking, alcohol, and lack of exercise? Neil Findlay Inequalities in health are, to a large extent, an expression of the wider inequalities in society, so if we are serious about tackling Scotland’s poor health we’ll need to tackle those. I’ve set up a health inequalities review – it’s taken evidence from a wide range of bodies – and as leader and in government, I’ll make sure that the focus of what we do is dealing with those inequalities of health and wealth that scar our society. Important as it is – its not just about the NHS – investing in early years provision would be an investment in health. Sarah Boyack We’ve made progress on smoking reduction through leadership and legislation. We need to prioritise healthy lifestyles as a priority. I’d want to make healthier lifestyles part of an overall anti-poverty mission for government. There are lots of good initiatives locally, but they need to be implemented across the country. Promoting walking and cycling is essential – see my comments to Pedal On Parliament’s Q&A. Jim Murphy This is such an important question and reducing health inequalities will be a priority if I am first minister. We do need to tackle the unacceptable friendship that our culture has with alcohol. I can’t be the only one whose friends sometimes say to them: “I had such a great night last night. Got pretty drunk … no idea how I got home.” That can’t surely be a measure of a great night. The problem is clear, but the solutions aren’t as simple. Average healthy life expectancy is lower here in Scotland than the UK averages for both men and women. Heart disease, smoking, alcohol and suicide are also greater challenges here than other parts of the UK. My approach will be to focus on reducing wider inequalities which affect our health – this means action on education, jobs and housing. Health inequality is a product of wider poverty. It also requires equipping our NHS to deal with the challenges of an ageing population at the same time as preventative measures to encourage and support people to live healthier lives. None of this comes on the cheap, which is why it’s important that Labour is the only party in Scotland committed to a 50p tax rate for those earning over £150,000. Updated at 1.53pm GMT 1.20pm GMT13:20 Trust in politicians @GdnScotland Why should we believe you this time? #SLabLeaderQu Neil Findlay Because I was right last time. Jim Murphy Good question. The Scottish Labour party hasn’t been good enough in the past. We haven’t always put forward a confident, positive vision of what Scotland can be. We’ve sometimes given the impression of being pessimists – a party looking forward to a rainy day. I want change that if I am elected leader. I’m an optimist about Scotland. I live in Glasgow and don’t own an umbrella. But judge me by what I’ll do not what I say. I also want to rebuild a coalition of voters. I don’t believe in habitual or tribal voting. I’ve won and defended my constituency (which now has the highest election turnout of any seat in the UK) by reaching out beyond a core vote. I’ll do that again as Scottish leader by reaching out to referendum Yes voters. Many of them aren’t SNP supporters and share Labour’s passion for fairness. Sarah Boyack A wise person recently commented to me that the people most disappointed by a Labour government are those who voted for it! Government is tough. Even during my time as a minister, when we had record levels of spending, we had to choose between good things that deserved support and investment. For what it’s worth, my insight is that for Labour a clear manifesto which makes promises which are deliverable and come from our principles of social, environmental and economic justice has to be our starting point. But it’s also about engagement with people so that we keep listening to people and keep in touch with people’s day to day experiences. That’s hard to do but we need to make a higher priority for all our elected representatives to campaign in their local communities. Some of the most rewarding campaigns I’ve been involved in have led to change in the law or change in decisions: changing the law so we can stop the disruption caused by party flats in residential areas; keeping our local fire control centre open and ensuring we have local knowledge underpinning our fire and rescue services. Social media has opened up the chance for us to be more in touch and to be more engaged – that has to be a good thing. Updated at 1.34pm GMT 1.07pm GMT13:07 Devolution within Scotland @GdnScotland I live in Aberdeen, power is centralised in Holyrood, Would u devolve power to regions & support an elected major of Aberdeen? Neil Findlay Not desperately fussed with the idea of elected mayors (provosts, surely?). But do want to see stronger local government able to take its own decisions and set own budgets. Jim Murphy I enjoyed our hustings in Aberdeen on Monday night. I would definitely devolve greater powers across Scotland, particularly welfare powers. It makes no sense to transfer power from one capital city (London) to another (Edinburgh). I want Scottish Labour to win power so we can then give it away again to the different parts of Scotland. I’ll be talking a little bit more about this tomorrow. Sarah Boyack It’s one of the ironies that although we’ve had an SNP government campaigning for more powers to be transferred from the UK government to Scotland that they have been a hugely centralising force since coming to power. Local government in Scotland has been tied into a financial straightjacket and we’ve seen police and fire services centralised with local influence reduced and services centralised. I’ve used my time as Labour’s shadow cabinet member for local government to campaign for double devolution, so that power is transferred from the Scottish government to local authorities and on to local communities. Now that we have new powers being transferred as a result of the Smith commission it’s time for devolution from the Scottish government to local authorities and communities. See my blog. Updated at 1.19pm GMT 1.03pm GMT13:03 The West Lothian question What is your position on the West Lothian question? Do you agree that it is unconstitutional and unjust that Scottish MPs at Westminster are able to vote on matters that related to England, Wales and Northern Ireland when those from other parts of the union have no reciprocal say on Scottish matters? If so how with you work to persuade your party's leadership in London to address this injustice? Jim Murphy I support greater devolution to other parts of the UK, including to the great cities and regions of England. But English Votes for English Laws (Evel) is a kneejerk reaction from David Cameron. London MPs vote on transport issues, even though responsibility for this area of policy is devolved to the London Assembly. What we need is a full constitutional convention to look at these issues in-depth, and in a calm and rational manner, not in an attempt to score a few party political points. Sarah Boyack There is a need for give and take as we strike a new balance across the country to bring power closer to the people. There are already English anomalies with London MPs being able to vote on issues across the UK that are devolved to the London mayor, such as transport. Decisions made in Westminster on budgets for England have a direct impact on spending across the UK, and Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish views must be included – there can only be one type of Member of Parliament. In the long run how England and English regions choose to take decisions on the future of services for communities needs a proper debate and wider civic involvement as we had when the Constitutional Convention in Scotland was set up in 1988. A constitutional convention as proposed by Ed Miliband is required, and will let us debate properly how we strengthen accountability across the UK. It’s time to sort out the House of Lords and make it democratic too. Neil Findlay The idea that you have different classes of MPs – some able to vote only on Tuesday or Thursday – is I think, a bit daft. Very little business in the House of Commons only really impacts on England. If there is a democratic deficit, it’s the lack of devolution to regions of England. The rational solution to the WLQ is devolution for the regions of England; until they choose to adopt that, then they must live with the anomalies. I don’t support Evel – it’s been an idea that has been being rejected since Gladstone’s time (when it was known as the “in and out principle” – there we go, one for the constitutional historians there). Apart from anything else, the amount of legislation in the House of Commons that is purely English with no bearing on the rest of the UK is minimal. Updated at 1.31pm GMT 12.56pm GMT12:56 University tuition fees SNP policy is to continue with free tuition fees for all University students. Given that the amount of money going to schools and colleges has been cut drastically and subsequently harming those in our poorer areas, how will you convince the middle class SNP voters that tuition fees do not target those that need help most and that the money for tuition fees should not be universal?I can vote. Neil Findlay The problem isn’t the free tuition, it’s the refusal to resource the policy properly. We need to make the argument that services are free at the point of need – they do come at a cost. I believe we do that through the tax system, making the argument that if we want quality public services , including universities, we as a society must bear that cost. I’m equally clear that the biggest burdens should be borne by those with the biggest shoulders. Jim Murphy Scottish Labour will maintain free tuition in Scotland. But we need to do much more to help kids from poorer backgrounds get on. Too many just don’t get the qualifications they need from school, and the SNP’s cuts to college places means people from working-class backgrounds are being locked out of further education. So I will focus on tackling the inequalities in our education system as a whole. The academic disadvantage builds up from day one of primary school – if not before. Sarah Boyack We need fairness and equality to drive our education policy. That’s not currently happening with too many young people from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds missing out. We’ve lost 140,000 places in Scottish colleges at a time when businesses are crying out for young people with skills and knowledge. It’s a scandal that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are most likely to drop out of university. For me the issue is about targeted support for young people so that they don’t miss out at any stage in life. In our leadership hustings all of us have said we don’t support the introduction of fees for universities and it will be an issue we will provide detail on when we come to develop our manifesto for 2016. Updated at 1.36pm GMT 12.54pm GMT12:54 Land reform proposals Some background here. Can you tell me where you stand on the Land Reform proposals put forward by the SNP? Jim Murphy We need to give local communities more power over where they live. So I support extending rights for the community to buy land across Scotland. We should go further than the SNP propose. If it is in the public interest for communities to own their land, then they should have the right to buy it. I also want this to be part of a wider effort of ensuring financing is available to local community projects. This should go alongside reform of the crofter housing grant to ensure our rural villages have a sustainable future. Neil Findlay I’ll wait and see. At face value it looked quite good, but we’ve been here before. I remember Alex Salmond announcing, to great fanfare, the birth of the “Hydro nation” . But when it came to parliament it was (ahem) a bit of a damp squib. Similarly they promised great things re extending Freedom of Information, but ended up doing nothing of any significance. So I’ll wait and see what they bring forward, as opposed to what they announce. Sarah Boyack Land reform was one of the big achievements of the first Scottish Labour government in the first term of the Scottish Parliament. It’s transformed people’s lives and created jobs and economic activity in communities that had been held back for years. But we’ve still got around 500 people owning half of our land so for me there’s unfinished business. I’ll support the proposals for a new land reform bill and think a lot of thinking has already gone into shaping what legislation we need. We should be thinking now about where we want to go over the next 10-20 years. There a big opportunities to bring about economic development, housing and renewable energy. Lessons need to be learned from previous legislation: we need the law to be as straightforward as possible so it can be used by communities; we need to enable urban communities to benefit, too; and crucially for me, it has to be tied to an empowerment agenda. We need to give disadvantaged communities a real chance to take the lead and to ensure they have the skills and money to make the transformational changes they want in their communities. Updated at 2.14pm GMT 12.52pm GMT12:52 Offensive Behaviour at Football Act I am a party member in Scotland, so eligible to vote.I would like to know the thoughts of the 3 candidates on the SNP's Offensive behaviour at Football act, and if they plan to repeal it.thanks :) Jim Murphy Yes, I would repeal the Football Act. I am a football fan and a season ticket holder for one of Glasgow’s football teams (I’ll leave it to you to guess which one). It’s a poor piece of legislation that was more an attempt to get a few headlines than properly deal with sectarianism in Scotland. Here’s a bit more of what I have said on this. Neil Findlay Repealing the offensive behaviour at footie act has been party policy for a good long while – two years? – and I fully support that. Sarah Boyack Yes, the Act is flawed and should be repealed. I supported the motion which my Labour colleague Elaine Murray MSP moved in our debate on sectarianism on 4 November: That the Parliament notes that, in December 2013, the Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland published its report, Independent Advice to Scottish Ministers and Report on Activity 9 August 2012 – 15 November 2013; considers that the report’s recommendations require action from groups and organisations across civic Scotland; regrets that neither this report nor the Scottish Government’s response of February 2014 has been debated in the Parliament or scrutinised in depth by a parliamentary committee; agrees that education and prevention are the best ways of tackling sectarianism, and believes that the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, which was railroaded through the Parliament by the Scottish Government, is flawed and should be repealed. Updated at 1.09pm GMT 12.47pm GMT12:47 The future of Trident As Scottish Labour policy is against trident, will you as leader of Scottish Labour advocate the democratic will of Scottish Labour members on this issue, or will you insist on pushing the UK party policy on the Scottish party? Sarah Boyack I’ve made my views clear – I don’t support the renewal of Trident. I’m proud of the work of the last Labour government to negotiate a reduction in nuclear warheads across the globe. Spending billions on acquiring a new weapons system would be going in the wrong direction. We need to play our part by investing in our own UK defence and peacekeeping capabilities, supporting conflict resolution and using economic sanctions where appropriate. Neil Findlay I’m against the UK having nuclear weapons – I want the Scottish Labour party to be campaigning for the UK to cancel Trident. Jim Murphy I want a world free of nuclear weapons. There are two entirely legitimate views on what is the best way to achieve that – multilateralism or unilateralism. I’m not a unilateralist and want the UK to be part of negotiations to make the world nuclear-free. I know that that is tougher at the moment when the likes of North Korea are trying to acquire nuclear weapons. But I don’t believe in unilaterally stopping being a nuclear power. I’m pretty proud of all the work the previous Labour government did to reduce our warhead numbers. Updated at 12.48pm GMT 12.40pm GMT12:40 Is Scottish Labour 'run like a branch office'? For all, after Lamont's comments that Scottish Labour has been run like a branch office, do you favour seperation from UK labour to a distinct Scottish Labour party to more effectively govern in Scotland? Neil Findlay We certainly need a local control – I also want to see us regaining the capacity to express opinions and take positions on issues going further than Scotland. We lost most of our capacity to do that near the start of the Blair era. Trident is an obvious example. It is and has to be a reserved issue. But I want the Scottish Labour party to be able to state our view that the UK shouldn’t have nuclear weapons and make that position clear and argue for it throughout the UK (as we should in government in Scotland). At the moment Auchenshuggle branch Labour party can have a view – but Scottish Labour can’t. That has to change Sarah Boyack No, we have shared values so I don’t believe in separation. However, there is unfinished business from the review of Scottish Labour that Jim Murphy and I carried out in 2011. I’m clear that the next leader needs to have authority over our staff and resources. If elected as leader, putting in place the resources to support our work would be a top priority. We’re in a new era in Scottish politics and we need to modernise our party and support our local campaign teams across the country. Jim Murphy I have been very clear on this – if I am elected leader, decisions about the Scottish Labour party will be taken here and nowhere else. I don’t favour separation of our party. Two months ago Scotland voted for devolution and against separation – and that’s what Scottish Labour should do. We need to devolve our party as well as our parliament. I value being part of something bigger, but we need to devolve the Scottish Labour party in the way we have devolved the Scottish parliament. I talked about this a few weeks ago. Here’s a link to a fuller answer. Updated at 1.17pm GMT 12.37pm GMT12:37 PFI contracts @GdnScotland How do you plan to end the PFI contracts which provide such poor value for hospitals and other public services? Neil Findlay We use the Smith commission borrowing powers and take advantage of historic low interest rates, buy out existing contracts and save billions. Jim Murphy I will take a new approach. We need to look at what delivers the best value, especially at a time when vital capital spending budgets are under increasing pressure. What we need to do is look at innovative new models of finance to deliver capital projects, such as using public sector pensions as bond finance to build social housing. Sarah Boyack When contracts come up for negotiation there are always opportunities to get better value. Using procurement more effectively is something I argued for when we were debating the new procurement legislation earlier this year. A big missed opportunity was the fact that the SNP wouldn’t include the living wage in procurement contracts. Updated at 1.47pm GMT 12.34pm GMT12:34 Devo max and the Smith commission The first question is from kristinezkochanski – for background, you can read more about the Smith commission proposals here. The key points are here. Considering that opinion polls consistently place public support for ''devo max'' in Scotland at 60% + what are your views on the adequacy or otherwise of the Smith commission's proposals which leave the vast majority of taxation & social security powers reserved. Do the proposals meet public expectations encouraged by ''the vow'' & are you concerned as I am that the devolution of income tax in isolation just means that Scottish Parliament will end up having to raise income tax to top up the shortfall in social security payments caused by austerity measures, but will lack any effective method of increasing other revenues. Neil Findlay The Smith commission’s report has not pleased everyone. It wasn’t going to – no one gets everything they want out of a negotiation. Indeed there are areas within it that I could quibble at; for example I would have liked to have seen more reference to public ownership and advancing that agenda. I believe in progressive taxation, but there’s more to life than income tax. The increased borrowing powers are vitally important. These new powers offer the Scottish parliament scope to raise money that can be invested in capital projects. For example, it can assist in building more homes, thus meeting a pressing social need while also creating demand in our economy and in turn increasing our tax yield. We can also use that borrowing power to build schools and hospitals and other public assets without the need to rely on the costly and unaccountable PFI and NPD methods. Sarah Boyack I believe the Smith commission recommendations will strengthen the powers and accountability of the Scottish parliament. The fact that five parties sat down to negotiate a powerful package of measures to strengthen devolution and Scotland’s place within the UK is something that I welcomed. The recommendation that there should be publicity to highlight the powers that the Scottish parliament has and will have is important in the interests of transparency and accountability. We will have a powerhouse parliament; the challenge now is to ensure those new powers are used to get people back to work and use the new powers on benefits to support people with disabilities, older people and those on low incomes. I commented before the commission published its report that there we needed guarantees put in place to ensure Scotland got a fair deal. See my blog. There is now significant devolution of taxation proposed, which will see the Scottish parliament responsible for around 60% of the funds it spends, £20bn more in tax, including all personal income tax on earned income. That would let us reintroduce a 50p tax rate on top earners and a 10p rate to help lower earners. Jim Murphy ‘The vow’ has not only been met – it has been exceeded. Over two million Scots voted for a stronger Scottish parliament within the UK. That’s what the Smith commission has delivered and it’s what the Scottish people clearly want. The devolution of major powers like income tax, borrowing and almost £3bn of welfare powers, means the buck will stop with the Scottish parliament. Parties who talk about social justice but fail to act won’t be able to blame anybody else. That’s a good thing, and it’s an exciting time in Scottish politics. Last week I set out how I would use the new powers, which you can read about in more detail here.Tomorrow I will be making a speech on what I would do with the welfare powers. Look out for details on my website or twitter feed. Updated at 12.44pm GMT 12.20pm GMT12:20 Welcome to the live hustings and here’s a brief run-through of how it will work. Thank you to all those who have submitted questions below and via @GdnScotland. We have selected some of the questions to send to the candidates in advance to allow more time for them to concentrate on other questions as they come in during the live period, as well as more of those already posted. Please do continue to post questions below this liveblog or on @GdnScotland. We will attempt to get through as many questions as we can, and to cover as broad a reach of topics as possible, but it is unlikely that we will be able to get through them all. Every question selected will be put to all three candidates; questions posed to just one candidate are not likely to be picked, sorry. This is to make it fair to all the candidates. Please note: the candidates will answer questions at different speeds and so some answers will be posted ahead of others. We will group their answers under question headings so you will be able to see how all three have responded, but you might need to refresh the page as answers are added. The live hustings will begin at 12.30pm GMT. Updated at 12.31pm GMT 10.51am GMT10:51 Across Scotland this week, ballots are being returned for the election of a new leader of the Scottish Labour party. The result will be announced on 13 December. Three candidates have put themselves forward to replace Johann Lamont, who resigned in October after accusing colleagues of trying to run Scotland “like a branch office of London”. Jim Murphy, who has pledged to give up his Westminster seat for Holyrood if he wins, has emerged as frontrunner in the contest. But critics say his New Labour outlook and previous backing for Trident and the Iraq war could prove disastrous in Labour’s urban heartlands. Neil Findlay, currently Holyrood’s shadow health secretary and a member of the Campaign for Socialism group, is popular on the left of the party, and enjoys strong trade union backing. Sarah Boyack, a former transport minister who has been at Holyrood since its formation in 1999, has been a significant figure in the party’s internal policy reforms, working alongside Murphy on restructuring the party organisation and advising Lamont on her proposals for greater devolution. The independence referendum campaign was a gruelling experience for Scottish Labour, already struggling after the party’s bruising defeat by the SNP in the 2011 Holyrood elections. Despite being on the winning side in September’s referendum, Labour has since slumped in the polls in the face of a surge in support for the SNP. The new leader will face a huge challenge ahead of next May’s general election, which Ed Miliband described as “the most important election for a generation” in a speech in Glasgow last Friday. Today, Thursday 4 December, at 12.30pm GMT, all three candidates will be live online to answer your questions about their politics and policies. Please post initial questions for them in the thread below. We’re especially keen to hear from readers who are able to vote in the leadership election, so let us know where you’re based if that is the case. You can also tweet questions via @GdnScotland. Please note that we will be putting the questions to all three candidates. Updated at 10.05am GMT |