Scottish Labour leadership hopeful Kezia Dugdale has vowed to “shake things up” and be the anti-establishment voice that society needed.
The 33-year-old said that with 56 out of 59 MPs and the government of Scotland belonging to the SNP, it was clear that the country needed a loud voice to stand up against vested interests.
Ms Dugdale, who stepped down as the party’s deputy leader last week to fight the election, is formally launching her campaign in Edinburgh today.
She is standing against Ken Macintosh and faces a real battle to rebuild the party after the disastrous general election result last month which saw it lose all but one of its 41 seats.
Ms Dugdale, who spent her formative years in Elgin in Moray and is a Aberdeen University law graduate, said: “We have a second term Tory government that now has a majority and nothing standing in its way.
“We have a SNP Government that has been in office for more than eight years and a first minister who was elected to the Scottish Parliament more than fifteen years ago.
“We have institutions in this country that have become cosy with the status quo, even if they long ago ceased to deliver what’s best for the people of Scotland.
“If I am elected leader I won’t stand for business as usual just because it’s inconvenient to say otherwise – I’m going to shake things up.”
Lothians MSP Ms Dugdale, who was first elected in 2011, said nothing would stand in the way of her “tearing down the barriers “that stop people fulfilling their potential.
“Under my leadership no one will be in any doubt what the Labour Party stands for and who we stand with,” she added.
“It won’t always be easy and it won’t always be popular, but I’m going to say the things too many people are scared to say in politics.
“Scotland needs a strong opposition that asks tough questions, not a one party state where every institution and every cause is linked to just one political party.
“People need a champion against the cosy consensus in Scottish politics – I will be the anti-establishment voice society needs.”