Nominations have opened in the Scottish Labour leadership contest, with MSPs Monica Lennon, Michael Marra and Joe Fagan all confirming bids to replace Anas Sarwar, who stepped down last month to become a minister in Andy Burnham's government. Candidates have two weeks to secure the support needed to reach the ballot, including nominations from MSPs, MPs and affiliated organisations.
Nominations close on 17 August, with party members and affiliated supporters voting between 28 August and 17 September. The new leader is due to be announced two days later on 19 September.
Which MSPs believe they can turn Scottish Labour's fortunes around?
Marra, Scottish Labour's finance spokesperson, and former council leader Fagan - who was only recently elected as an MSP - are both confident they will make the ballot in the contest.
There is less certainty about Lennon, who said on Sunday the race
reeks of misogyny and male entitlement. She said on social media there should be no
coronation or a contest without women.
With nominations open, other contenders could still come forward.
Katy Clark, who like Lennon is on the left of the party, is considering a bid.
The West Scotland MSP previously represented North Ayrshire and Arran at Westminster and was later appointed to the House of Lords. She now serves as one of Holyrood's deputy presiding officers.
Fagan has received the backing of MSP Paul Sweeney, who confirmed he would not be standing himself. The National has reported that acting Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie is backing Fagan's campaign. Meanwhile Edinburgh Southern MSP Daniel Johnson has publicly declared his support for Marra.
When will Scottish Labour have a new leader?
The contest was triggered after Sarwar stepped down as Scottish Labour leader and MSP to take up a seat in the House of Lords and become a trade minister.
He led the party through its worst election result in the history of devolution in May, winning just 17 seats out of 129.
Marra said the party had not been clear enough in its offer to voters ahead of the Scottish Parliament election.
Highlighting the incompetence of the SNP is not an argument for why people should put their faith in Scottish Labour instead
People have seen what the SNP has done or hasn't done with power for almost 20 years. People wanted to know what Scottish Labour would do tomorrow if we won power and that just wasn't clear enough.
What I want is for our party's goals to become obvious and unmistakable.
Lennon said she wanted to see a
big tentparty and an end to internal disputes.
First, the factional infighting must end.
Insiders who value personal loyalties over progressive action have often underestimated their colleagues.
Meanwhile Fagan said that Prime Minister Andy Burnham's recent by-election victory in Makerfield demonstrated that Labour could
win back trustwhen it was
serious about changing people's lives.
Scottish Labour needs to learn lessons from where we have won, not just where we have lost.
The lesson is simple: people will listen to Scottish Labour again when we stop sounding like a party talking to itself and start proving that we are on their side.
Joe Fagan becomes third MSP to join Scottish Labour leadership race
Michael Marra joins race to become Scottish Labour leader
Lennon launches Scottish Labour leadership bid
