MP says time for the new generation to lead Labour

Scottish Labour can only be rebuilt by a new generation of politicians and activists, according to the party’s only MP in Scotland.

In a speech in his constituency later today Ian Murray will say the party can no longer look to the “big beasts” to take the party forward, arguing the “burden of responsibility” now falls to the next generation.

 “Our lowest points can be the catalyst for our greatest victories,” he is expected to say, pointing to how the party gained victory after the death of former leader John Smith.

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“I’ll play my part in whatever way I can. A party which takes inspiration from those who went before – Smith, Dewar, McConnell, Brown. All of them made their own unique and lasting contribution to our party and to our country. 

“But the Scottish Labour Party can no longer turn to the big beasts. It falls to a new generation to take the Scottish Labour Party forward,” he will say.

Many credited Labour’s ‘big beasts’ with victory for the No campaign in the independence campaign, including major speeches by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Jim Murphy’s tour of Scotland on his soapbox, and strategists Douglas Alexander and Alistair Darling, who headed Better Together.

However Murphy and Alexander lost their seats to the SNP in the General Election, and Brown and Darling’s seats also fell after their retirement.

“This will be the work of the new generation. It has to be the work of the new generation because we cannot go back.

“A new generation that will change the party so we can change the country for the people we seek to represent. A new generation that will give people the confidence to place their trust in us again and, ultimately, the opportunity to serve once again,” Murray will say.