MP Anas Sarwar chosen as deputy leader
Johann Lamont was today elected as the new leader of the Scottish Labour Party. After the first round of counting in the ballot she emerged with 51.77% of the votes cast, putting her ahead of rivals Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh and Glasgow South MP Tom Harris.
After she was elected, Ms Lamont told party supporters in Edinburgh: "Together we will change the Scottish Labour Party and win the chance to serve the people of Scotland again and make Scotland all that we know it can be. Now let's get started."
Anas Sarwar, son of former MP Mohammed Sarwar, outpolled MPs Iain Davidson and Lewis MacDonald for the deputy’s post.
Ms Lamont, previously Labour’s deputy leader, will head the party across the country rather than just its Holyrood group. She succeeds Iain Gray, who held the top job for three years,but declared he was stepping down after the Scottish National Party's landslide victory in May's Holyrood election. A number of leading Labour politicians north of the border lost their seats, with Mr Gray conceding at the time it was a "dreadful night".
Comment: how Salmond (might have) said farewell to Gray
Ms Lamont, a former teacher with more than a decade of experience as an MSP, has pledged to make the party "fit for purpose".
She said today: "The process of change has started with my election. I am the first leader of the Scottish Labour Party and I will lead all sections of the Scottish Party, remembering always that it is the people of Scotland we serve and not the institution in which they ask us to do service. Whether in your trade union, the Co-op party, your community, every part of this movement has a part to play."
Ms Lamont thanked her fellow candidates Mr Macintosh and Mr Harris, and said both would play "a major part in the change which has to come".
Turning to the SNP, she added: "The SNP have won the right to hold a referendum on Scotland leaving the United Kingdom. They should get on with it. Waiting is holding Scotland back. They should get on with it - with one question - and let the people's voice be heard.
"Separation and devolution are two completely different concepts which cannot be mixed together. One is not a stop on the way to the other. I want to have the referendum now to confirm once again that devolution is the settled will of the Scottish people and nothing else."
Under Labour's electoral college system, votes are cast in three sections - one for MPs, MSPs and MEPs, one for party members and one for members of affiliated organisations.
Ms Lamont won two of these sections, having most support among Labour's elected parliamentarians and amongst the members of unions and other affiliated bodies. Mr Macintosh won more than 50% of the votes from individual party members.
After the first round Ms Lamont had 51.77% of the votes, putting her ahead of Mr Macintosh, who had 40.28% and Glasgow South MP Tom Harris, who came in third with 7.95%. That result meant there was no need to count second or third preferences.
Ms Lamont was the last candidate to launch her leadership campaign and outlined promises to change the party structure, with ideas such as including non-MSPs in the shadow cabinet. The MSP for Glasgow Pollock, pledged to win over voters outside Labour's traditional heartlands. Her stated priorities are to tackle youth unemployment, create jobs, grow the economy and provide support for carers.
She had a stint as deputy communities minister in 2004 and deputy justice minister in 2006, while Labour was in power. She has served on the Equal Opportunities Committee, the Local Government Committee, the Education Committee, the Social Justice Committee and the Communities Committee. Before being elected in 1999, she was a classroom teacher for 20 years.
Ms Lamont joined Labour as a student and served on the party's executive committee in Scotland for several years. She became party chair in 1993.
Mr Sarwar said after his election: "I will offer continuous, unflinching and sincere support to our new leader to implement the changes we need to make to create a vibrant and confident Scottish Labour Party."
He stressed the party must renew itself to "build a Labour Party that the people of Scotland can believe in, to build a Labour Party that the people of Scotland can trust and to build a Labour Party that can win".
More than 300,000 ballot papers were sent out last month, with members of the party, affiliated trade unions and other organisations all given a say in who the new leader should be. Voting closed on Wednesday, seven months after Mr Gray announced he would stand down.
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