Richard McCready
Congratulations to Johann Lamont and Anas Sarwar
22 December 2011
I would like to congratulate Johann Lamont and Anas Sarwar on their elections as leader and deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
I am particularly pleased as I supported Johann and Anas as did Dundee West Constituency Labour Party.
However, I would also say that I think that the contest has been good for the party.
I think that all of the candidates have had something to offer.
It seems that Johann doesn't need this advice as she has included the leadership contenders in her team, but each of them had interesting things to say about how Labour got into the position which it is in and more importantly how we can get out of this position.
It is clear that Labour needs to change and needs to listen to the message people gave us in May this year.
I was delighted that Johann has spoken of the need for Labour to be the party of all of Scotland.
We must aim to win back both Dundee City West and Dundee City East, and if we want to form the government of Scotland we will have to.
I am also clear that Scottish Labour should have the policies which appeal to the people of Dundee and we need to work on this.
I would offer as a starter that we should focus on fairness or social justice.
Social justice is what Labour should be about.
We should respect our opponents but also be clear that changing the flag flying over us will make no difference to the lives of the Scots we seek to serve.
We should have as our priority making Scotland a fairer country in a fairer world.
We should not get involved in a bidding war on policies; we should stick with what we think is right and argue for fairness and social justice.
I am also pleased to see Johann's Shadow Cabinet team emerging and I am delighted that my friend and colleague Jenny Marra has been given a job as the Community Safety and Legal Affairs spokesperson.
I would also like to thank Iain Gray for his service as Labour's leader.
Clearly Iain's time as leader didn't end as he (or I) would have hoped but there is no doubt that he worked incredibly hard in that role.
He was very supportive of me as the candidate in Dundee City West and I will always be grateful for that.
I am sure that Iain will have much to offer Scottish public life in the future.