A former adviser to ex US Vice-President Al Gore has been put in charge of the Scottish Labour manifesto for next year’s Holyrood election.
Evan Williams, an environmental economist, has been given the role by party leader Kezia Dugdale as Labour attempts to re-gain a foothold in Scottish politics.
A recent TNS opinion poll found Labour trailing the SNP by 37% in first-past-the-past voting intentions for Holyrood, and by 34% on the regional top-ups.
The grim snapshot means Labour has lost around 30% of its constituency vote since 2011 and nearly 25% on the List votes.
Dugdale is known to want a bold and eye-catching manifesto that attempts to outflank the SNP on the centre-left of the political spectrum.
Williams, who was born in Chicago, was the UK Director of the Climate Reality Project, a volunteer campaign set up by Gore to further his environmental agenda.
He has also held a senior position at the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and was given a top berth in Dugdale’s team after she became leader earlier this year.
His manifesto role will be to serve as a link with party stakeholders and external groups, as well working with Labour’s Scottish Policy Forum.
However, the final say on the manifesto contest will rest with Dugdale, who has to get the final document agreed at a Clause 5 meeting, which is a get-together of senior party figures.
It is understood the party will try to produce bold ideas on tax and welfare that reflect the new powers likely to be transferred to Holyrood in the next term.
Dugdale recently promised to reverse George Osborne’s cuts in this area, but the UK Government’s eventual u-turn took the sting out of the Labour plan.
Meanwhile, senior Labour figures have expressed concern about what they believe is Dugdale’s mishandling of her party’s internal contests to select regional candidates.
The SNP, Tories and Liberal Democrats have all selected their candidates, but Labour has put off its own rankings until January.
With Labour struggling in the polls, senior party figures wanted Dugdale to be on the front foot, but they believe she will get bogged down with internal party niggles.
One insider said Dugdale was urged to hold the selections earlier this year, but she resisted on the grounds that many of her current MSPs will effectively be deselected.
She was said to be fearful that a small number of disaffected MSPs could have caused problems for her leadership for months ahead of next year’s poll.
The insider said: “Kez should be using January to take the fight to the SNP and Ruth Davidson, but the party will be looking inwards. I can understand why she put it off, but it looks weak.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "Kezia Dugdale has been clear since becoming leader of Scottish Labour that she wants to renew our party, reconnecting it to our historic values and focussing us on creating a Scotland fit for the future. Our manifesto will reflect that with big ideas to take our country forward."
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