Kezia Dugdale accepts the polls are "rubbish" for Labour but insists morale in her party is "really, really good" as it prepares to fight what could be a watershed election.

Labour was once the party that dominated Scottish politics but now polls have suggested it could come in third place at Holyrood, behind not just the SNP but the Tories as well.

"I don't accept we will," Ms Dugdale says.

She is the fifth person to lead the party since the independence referendum in September 2014.

Johann Lamont quit suddenly in October 2014, accusing party colleagues of treating Scotland like a "branch office", and was replaced by Anas Sarwar on an interim basis.

Kezia Dugdale: The 'accidental' MSP leading Labour's revival

Former Scottish secretary Jim Murphy was elected in December but stood down in June 2015 after a disastrous general election saw Labour lose all but one of its Scottish seats as Nicola Sturgeon's SNP swept the board at Westminster.

Former leader Iain Gray stepped in and took the job on a temporary basis until Ms Dugdale was voted in in August.

"The Labour Party has burned through too many leaders over too few years," she says.

"I think the party needs stability to do that important job of renewing itself."

Since she took over, she believes Labour has had a stronger presence in the Scottish Parliament.

Ms Dugdale says her party has been "driving the issue of educational inequality right to the top of the political agenda" and that she has had "a big part to play in that".

She adds: "If you look at the A&E waiting crisis, for example, we've secured through using FMQs (First Minister's Questions) weekly stats on that, which have forced the Government to up their game."

She stresses that "beyond the Scottish Parliament, there is a sense of renewal in the Scottish Labour Party".

With new powers over tax coming to Holyrood, Labour has called for the basic rate of income tax to be raised by 1p, and for the top rate, paid by those earning over £150,000, to be increased to 50p.

"The stuff we've done about tax, I think, has been really widely well-received amongst the public," Ms Dugdale says.

"But internally within the Labour Party, it's allowed people to raise their shoulders and put their heads up, because there's a very principled, simple message at the heart of that, which is we believe in high-quality public services and we're prepared to have hard conversations about how you pay for them.

"So, there is that sense of despite how rubbish the polls are and all the rest of it, morale in the Labour Party is really, really good."

She says she has been "bowled over" by the support she has had since becoming leader, adding she wakes up "feeling lucky every single day".

But after the SNP won all but three of the 59 Scottish seats at Westminster, there has been a suggestion Labour could lose all of the constituency seats it had at Holyrood.

However, Ms Dugdale says success for her party on May 5 is "much broader and wider than a set number of seats", arguing instead "a good result to me is proving to people that the Labour Party is changing".

Asked directly if she will resign if Labour comes third, she says: "I don't accept we will and I'm not going anywhere."

While she says her rivals in the SNP and the Conservatives are still focused on the constitution, she argues it is Labour that has a vision for Scotland.

Ms Dugdale says: "I think the vast majority of people in Scotland want to move on from the referendum, they've been told that we have a more powerful parliament and they want to see that parliament put into use.

"We can change this country if we want to, it's in our grasp, and I think that's what this election is about."