Scottish Labour leadership: watch Mandy Rhodes interview Ken Macintosh

The scale of Labour’s defeat in the general election gives the party the chance to change its structure, according to leadership candidate Ken Macintosh (full video below).

Speaking to Holyrood editor Mandy Rhodes amid the Scottish Labour leadership contest, Macintosh denied the party’s defeated candidates, such as Jim Murphy and Douglas Alexander, had been out of touch with voters, but warned that Labour must rethink its approach to opposition.

He said: “There is an opportunity in this defeat. It is a terrible thing to say because it makes you sound insensitive, but the very fact that we have lost all our MPs gives us the chance to reshape the party. We have been riven by hierarchies in the past."

“Within the party there are MPs at the top, then constituency MSPs, then list MSPs – and what a ridiculous divide that is – then councillors, then members – the foot soldiers, the ones that do all the work.

“I think that is utterly damaging, all elected representatives should be on the same level, accountable to the local party, which should be in charge.

“So all the thing I have suggested about restructuring the party is about ending that hierarchy of interests, ending the dominance of elected members and unions.”

Asked if Labour’s MPs were defeated because they took their positions for granted, Macintosh said: “If it was the case that our MPs were out of touch with their constituents, then we deserve to have lost, but I don’t think that is the answer.”

“I am not going to knock any of the candidates that were elected (in the general election), but clearly they were not as well known as the MPs. Douglas Alexander, Jim Murphy, these are very well known, high profile people that worked hard. So I don’t accept the argument that they weren’t working hard, or they weren’t in touch – I think they were very much in touch.

Listing issues with student support, exams and A&E waiting times Macintosh said: “If you say in each case it is the SNP’s fault, it just makes it sound like you are using every single thing that happens to people as a weapon to hit the SNP with and that what actually matters is that you are bitter they you are not in power and they are, and that they are always wrong and you are always right – and that is clearly not the case.

“All parties makes mistakes, some are right some are wrong. Not everything the SNP does is bad, so if your default position is that it is, people begin to discount you, and it reflects badly on you. That’s where we lost our way, we lost the art of being positive.”