Michael Marra has been elected as the new leader of the Scottish Labour party, receiving 4,266 votes out of 6,751 cast, or almost two-thirds of the vote. He succeeds Lord Sarwar and will face significant challenges in reversing the party's declining fortunes in Scotland, where it won only 17 seats in the most recent Holyrood election—the party’s worst performance ever. Marra emphasized the need to reconnect with Scottish voters and clarify Labour’s values to counteract the SNP’s dominance and Reform Party’s influence.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-19,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On September 23, Michael Marra was elected as the new leader of the Scottish Labour Party, succeeding Lord Sarwar. The election followed Labour's worst performance since devolution in May's Scottish Parliament elections where they won only 17 MSPs, their lowest number ever. With a turnout of nearly half its members, Marra received 4266 votes compared to Joe Fagan's 2485. As the party’s 11th leader during the devolution era, Marra faces the challenge of reversing Labour's declining fortunes in Scotland, having lost seats at every Holyrood election since 1999. He vowed to reconnect with voters and emphasized the need for Scottish Labour to be a "national party once again," focusing on values such as equality, solidarity, and good public services.
Written for “Michael Marra Elected Scottish Labour…” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 6 other(s) covering the same event.
Michael Marra has been elected as the new leader of the Scottish Labour party, winning almost two-thirds of the vote to lead the party in Holyrood.
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Marra → elect → Holyrood
The MSP for North East Scotland is Scottish Labour’s 11th leader, replacing Lord Sarwar after his shock decision to resign in July to join Andy Burnham’s new government as a trade minister.
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MSP → replace → minister
In his acceptance speech, Marra he would spend time reconnecting with Scottish voters.
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he → spend → voters
“May hurt so much because we know the SNP didn’t deserve a fifth term in power.
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SNP → hurt → power
But the truth is Scotland didn’t think we would be much better.
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we → think → ?
“Scots know what we are against.
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we → know → what
They can’t tell you what we are for.
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we → tell → what
And that vacuum was filled by the poison, racism and bigotry of Reform.
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vacuum → fill → Reform
We must lead with our values,” he said.
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he → lead → values
“For a decade now Scotland has gotten weaker.
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Scotland → get → decade
We must reconnect with the country if we are ever to form a government in Holyrood to face these historic challenges.”
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we → reconnect → challenges
Marra faces an uphill battle to reverse the party’s fortunes in Scotland.
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Marra → face → Scotland
While 37 Labour MPs from Scotland sit in Westminster, the party has lost seats at every Holyrood election since devolution in 1999.
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party → sit → 1999
In May, the party suffered its worst ever results – winning just 17 seats as the SNP retained power.
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SNP → suffer → power
Labour has as many seats as Reform in Holyrood, just two more than the Scottish Green party and five more than the Conservatives.
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Labour → have → Conservatives
In a subdued campaign with few policy differences between candidates, both Marra and his main rival, Joe Fagan, were criticised for struggling to outline the circumstances in which Scotland should be allowed a second independence referendum.
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Scotland → criticise → referendum
Marra expressed his support for drilling in Rosebank oilfield and Jackdaw gasfield, arguing they were cleaner than sources from abroad while also supporting jobs in Scotland.
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they → express → Scotland
In total, 6,751 votes were cast in the leadership election, representing 49.43% of the Scottish Labour party membership.
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votes → cast → membership
Fagan won 2,485 votes, while Marra won 4,266.
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Marra → win → 4,266
Dr Eric Shaw, a research fellow at the University of Stirling who co-authored of The Strange Death of Labour in Scotland, said the party had to reconnect with working class voters to win back support.
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party → co → support
“The party is facing three main issues: the continued salience of independence, the association between Scottish Labour and Labour in Westminster, and the erosion of Labour’s historic base in Scotland.
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party → face → Scotland
The plight of the party is reflected in the fact that Labour did better amongst the professional middle class than it did in the working class in the most recent election.”
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it → reflect → election
Dr Ewan Gibbs, a lecturer in economic and social history at the University of Glasgow, said the new leader had to ask difficult questions about who the party was meant to represent in Scotland.
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party → say → Scotland
“We are approaching 20 years of failure with the government in Holyrood if we look at the performance of public services, educational attainment, ongoing income and wealth inequality in Scotland.
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we → approach → Scotland
But Scottish Labour isn’t a party that seems equipped to to mobilise that opposition and disappointment at the moment.”
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that → seem → moment
The Aporia
