The new Scottish Labour leader has said it will be a “long-term challenge” to regain supporters across Scotland.
Michael Marra beat rival Joe Fagan in the leadership race on Saturday, taking the reins of a party which has shed MSPs at every election since the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, sinking to just 17 in May.
Speaking to the Press Association at Dundee and Angus College, Mr Marra said that the council elections next year will be important for Scottish Labour.
He said: “I believe that the more Labour councillors we can get, the better it’s going to be for Scotland. That I’ll be continuing to push that. But we do have to recognise that now we have six-party politics in three-member wards.
He continued: “That means that the established parties are all going to be challenged by that situation, but I feel really positive about the kind of the record where we have been in government, in local government, to actually deliver people’s priorities locally.”
However, Mr Marra admitted it would be a “long-term challenge” for the Scottish Labour party to regain voters across Scotland.
He said: “It’s a long-term challenge to make sure that we genuinely refound the Labour party right across Scotland and communities, and that’s the kind of cultural change and political change that is going to be bear fruit in the long term.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Lord Jack McConnell – who was first minister and Scottish Labour leader between 2001 and 2007 – said: “I think there’s a long road back to where Scotland needs the Scottish Labour Party to be.”
He added: “He has a big challenge ahead of him (Mr Marra) but he is, I hope, the right person in the right place at the right time.”
It's a big, long road ahead, hard work. But the response I've had from my colleagues and many, many people from outside the Labour Party over the last 48 hours has been hugely positive about the opportunity to make that reconnection
Lord McConnell said Mr Marra has three tasks as he takes over the job: uniting the party, building a “more positive” offering to the country ahead of the next Holyrood election, and making clear what he would do if he became first minister.
There is a “monumental challenge”, Lord McConnell said, in convincing people to vote Labour rather than the SNP.
“It’s a really difficult job at a really difficult time and he needs to be very clear in his opposition to the way that Scotland is being treated by the SNP, Scottish Government and their MSPs,” he said.
“But he also needs to offer a very direct alternative.”
Responding to Lord McConnell’s comments, Mr Marra agreed it would be a “long road ahead” but has said he is willing to work with the Scottish Government to make changes.
He said: “It’s a big, long road ahead, hard work. But the response I’ve had from my colleagues and many, many people from outside the Labour Party over the last 48 hours has been hugely positive about the opportunity to make that reconnection.
“I fundamentally believe that the Labour Party remains the single best vehicle for social change in this country, and we we can see what we’ve delivered in our past.”
He continued: “in the first 48 hours, I put child poverty right into the First Minister to get a cross-party commissioner on child poverty.
“It is the first action I took, and it’s why today we’re pushing on trying to get education back at the heart of Scottish politics because those are Labour values, but I also believe they’re Scottish values.
“And that’s why I think it’s absolutely critical this work will be going forward in the Labour Party puts its best face to the public, but genuinely engages with them.”
First Minister John Swinney said he was willing to find ways to work to advance issues the two parties agree on.
“I congratulate Michael Marra on his election,” he said.
“We spoke by telephone on Saturday and we’ve already discussed issues where we can try to seek common ground, and I’m keen to do so.
“There will be issues that Michael Marra and the Labour Party and I agree on and I will try to find way ways of working to make sure that we can advance those issues.
“As for the prospects of the Labour Party, I’ll leave the Labour Party to sort out its own business.
“What I would simply point out is that the strategy the Labour Party has pursued up until now has taken them precisely nowhere in Scotland and they need to change strategy and direction if they want to make any major impact on public opinion in Scotland.”