The three candidates vying to become the next leader of Scottish Labour were in Dundee on Thursday to address the party faithful.
Deputy leader Johann Lamont MSP, is standing against fellow MSP Ken Macintosh and MP Tom Harris for Labour’s top job north of the border.
In a hustings event at the Apex Hotel each put across their vision on how to win back disillusioned voters.
Tom Harris, who is the MP for Glasgow South, said: ”Scottish Labour has never been particularly confident with change. An example of this is these hustings. Shouldn’t we have these hustings before the ballot papers were sent out?
“A lot of people in here will have already voted and when I asked about this I was told ‘that’s not how we have done it before’. Those words are the epitaph carved on the gravestone of this party.
”It doesn’t have to be this way. We can actually rediscover our historic mission. We can actually embrace the fact that working people want to better their lives materially and make sure we are seen as the best vehicle for that.”
Meanwhile Ms Lamont, who represents Glasgow Pollock, recognised that while the party needs to ”work hard” this in itself is not enough to win back power.
”We need to change ourselves in order to change the country,” she said. ”You cannot fight a battle in future assuming that you are in opposition simply from the Tories.
”We need to rebuild our own confidence in our own vision of policy, not defined by geography, not created by grand constitutional visions for the future but driven by the harsh reality that for too many children their future is determined by the age of five.”
Mr Macintosh, the MSP for Eastwood who won the backing of all three of the party’s Mid Scotland and Fife MSPs, said: ”I am concerned that the Labour party will stick with the familiar. You can choose a candidate who offers more of the same and maybe win back some of our traditional vote, but that is not enough.
”We have to reach out, we have to have a broad appeal and become a party for the whole of Scotland again. To do that, we need to talk about Scotland’s future.
“It is not enough to remind people of our values. We have got to talk about the difference we can make to people’s lives.”
More than 300,000 ballot papers for the election of the Scottish Labour leader were sent out in November. The results are due on December 17.