IF September 18, 2014 is the all-consuming focus for the SNP's front bench, Scottish Labour appears to be taking the longer view.

Johann Lamont's reshuffled Shadow Cabinet, announced yesterday, has been chosen as the fighting force to take on the SNP at the 2016 Holyrood election.

In 2011, Alex Salmond's team were formidable opponents. The Nationalists traded heavily on the experience and trustworthiness of a front bench that included Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney and Kenny MacAskill. Ms Lamont is all too aware that she needs to present to the Scottish public a credible alternative next time round. A key feature of the new team is the presence of several rising stars who are under 40; by appointing them now, Ms Lamont hopes to give them time to establish themselves. She may also be calculating that SNP "experience" may by 2016 have started to look like staleness.

The Lothian MSP Kezia Dugdale has taken on the major education brief, having shown a willingness to make waves by attacking the Scottish Government over its modern apprenticeships scheme. Labour has failed to capitalise on Education Secretary Michael Russell's troubles, relating to implementation of Curriculum for Excellence and college reorganisation, and Ms Dugdale will be expected to change that.

She is joined by North East Scotland MSP Jenny Marra who will speak on youth unemployment, and the Glasgow MSP Drew Smith, who takes over responsibility for the constitution. Neil Findlay, who has made a name for himself attacking the blacklisting of construction workers, takes on the important health brief, an area where, like education, Labour senses that the SNP is increasingly vulnerable.

Meanwhile, youthful vim will be balanced by experience. Iain Gray, the respected convener of the Public Audit Committee, becomes finance spokesman, helping lay to rest memories of his difficult time as leader. Like his opposite number John Swinney, the one-time leader of the SNP, this heavyweight front-bench brief may suit him better.

Jackie Baillie takes on social justice and welfare as well as co-ordinating the party's manifesto, and Sarah Boyack, Patricia Ferguson and Claire Baker retain their portfolios, while former senior police officer Graeme Pearson brings years of professional experience to the justice brief.

This far out from an election, policy details are still scant, but Ms Lamont has been positioning her party for some time on what she regards as the key election battleground: public finances. The Scottish Labour leader made the bold move last September of declaring that she did not consider universal benefits or the council tax freeze to be sustainable in the long term, a pronouncement that was gleefully attacked by the SNP. Ms Lamont's departing front bench colleague Ken Macintosh is among those in her own party who have signalled they feel uncomfortable about the new direction. The party leadership calculates, however, that by 2016, Scotland will have sustained three more years of funding cuts, with more to come, and promises of maintaining such benefits for all will have started to look rash.

There is the small matter of a referendum before then. A Yes vote would change everything, of course, though the polls point in the opposite direction and a clear defeat for the SNP would in all likelihood expose it to internal ructions.

So the battle lines are drawn and voters know who will lead the charge for Scottish Labour after Ms Lamont's bold intervention.