Iain Gray used his first conference speech as Scottish Labour leader to announce the first four experts who have agreed to help the party craft policies for the next Holyrood election.
Iain Gray used his first conference speech as Scottish Labour leader to announce the first four experts who have agreed to help the party craft policies for the next Holyrood election.
He described the conference in Dundee as a milestone in preparing for the 2011 election. "I appointed Margaret Curran to enhance our policy forum process and ensure that our policies resonate with the people whose trust we seek to implement them," he said.
"Each policy commission will work with a sounding board of experts from beyond the Labour Party to develop the most effective practical and deliverable policies commensurate with our values and vision."
Mr Gray announced that Stephen Boyd, assistant secretary of the STUC will work with the commission on a prosperous and sustainable Scotland; Kelley Bayes, former head of policy of the Aberlour childcare trust will support the commission on a Scotland of opportunity; Graeme Pearson, one of Scotland's leading figures in policing will contribute on a safer Scotland; and Professor Hugh Pennington, world renowned epidemiologist will advise on a caring and healthier Scotland.
Mr Gray said: "In my first six months as leader we have stopped the SNP in their tracks in Glenrothes, we have exposed their record as a catalogue of failure and their manifesto as a tissue of lies, we have forced them into retreat on local income tax, futures trust and the referendum, and we have delivered 8000 apprenticeships."
Referring to the recent Brandon Muir case, the 23-month-old toddler who died from injuries inflicted by his mother's partner, he said Labour would press the Scottish Government to legislate to require the sharing of information between agencies for child protection purposes so that no child's life slips through the bureaucratic net.
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy closed the conference with a rallying call for the rejection of what he called "credit-crunch racism" in which the recession is used as an excuse to attack migrant workers.
"This crisis was not caused by Polish plumbers or Bangladeshi workers. It was caused by irresponsible action by international bankers, some of them very close to home.
"We should continue to make clear that it is irresponsible bankers on million pound bonuses who caused this financial difficulty."
Mr Murphy also spoke of his upbringing in Glasgow and South Africa at a time when Nelson Mandela was "demonised" as a person.
"I could see Robben Island as I stood at the bus stop every morning waiting for the whites only' school bus to travel to my racially segregated school.
"We all have our own reasons for being Labour but growing up poor in Glasgow and white in South Africa is what gave me a sense of right and wrong and it is why I am standing here today."
There was also a hint from Labour's UK hierarchy, in the form of Energy Secretary Ed Milliband, that a reduction in the voting age to 16 could be on the cards. The SNP are already in favour of this policy, so if Labour backed it Scotland could be the first part of the UK to introduce it.
