THE Scottish Labour leadership team that will fight next year's Holyrood election will be announced tomorrow.
Kezia Dugdale, seen as the clear frontrunner to succeed Jim Murphy, said that if she wins the contest it will be a clear signal that a "new generation" would be taking Labour forward.
The Lothians MSP is going up against Ken Macintosh, the Holyrood veteran who has promised to offer a more constructive form of opposition to the SNP. Yesterday, on the final full day of campaigning, he took his youngest daughter Ruth for her first day at primary school before returning to the business of winning votes.
Meanwhile, the result of the deputy leadership race will also be announced tomorrow. MSPs Alex Rowley and Richard Baker, and Glasgow Council leader Gordon Matheson, are vying to become number two.
Here is the story of the campaign:
MAY 7: The SNP gains 40 of Scottish Labour's 41 seats at the general election. Jim Murphy faces calls to resign.
MAY 16: After admitting defeat in his bid to cling on to the leadership, Murphy announces he will go.
MAY 19: Ken Macintosh announces his intention to stand, having come second to Johann Lamont in 2011.
MAY 22: Kezia Dugdale, then deputy leader, says she will stand for top job after just months earlier describing herself as "a sidekick". She says Labour will become the "insurgent force" again. It means she will stand down as deputy leader, sparking a second contest.
JUNE 3: Mr Macintosh formally announces his leadership bid, and warns that Labour had become "a very negative party... in danger of being defined by our opposition to things rather than what we stand for." Offering a more constructive form of opposition to the SNP will become the key message of his campaign.
JUNE 13: Jim Murphy formally resigns, after pushing through reforms that means the contest to crown his successor will be decided through a one-member, one-vote system.
JUNE 19: Nominations close. Ms Dugdale and Mr Macintosh are the only leadership candidates. MSPs Alex Rowley and Richard Baker, as well as Glasgow Council leader Gordon Matheson, are the runners for the deputy post. Mr Rowley had said if successful, he will not take an automatic place at the top of a regional list. Mr Baker follows suit, but Mr Matheson refuses.
JUNE 20: Ms Dugdale holds her campaign launch, with a pledge to end the charitable status of private schools grabbing the headlines.
JUNE 22: The first husting event takes place in Edinburgh. Kezia Dugdale admits voters were not listening to her party. Ken Macintosh criticises a high-profile general election policy to allow drinking at football matches. The deputy candidates clash over the level of autonomy Scottish Labour should have.
JUNE 27: Gordon Matheson is under growing pressure to quit as council leader amid a coup among local members to topple him.
JULY 7: Ms Dugdale remains the clear frontrunner, with 88 per cent of local Labour groups and four trade unions, including Unison, backing her.
JULY 13: Deadline for signing up for a vote in the contest. It emerges that 6,000 non-members have joined as registered members or affiliated supporters.
JULY 23: Mr Macintosh kicks off a "members tour" in a bid to win undecided voters. He later insists momentum has swung towards him, declaring the race "wide open".
JULY 27: TV debate between the candidates. They clash over the UK party's reaction to the Welfare Bill. Ms Dugdale says Labour MPs should have voted against it, while Mr Macintosh points out she had told a newspaper she would have abstained days earlier.
AUGUST 2: Ms Dugdale warns a Jeremy Corbyn victory as UK leader could leave the party "carping on the sidelines". She later softens her position.
AUGUST 8: Mr Macintosh insists he is the only candidate offering "real change" as he holds a set piece event in Glasgow in a final push for votes.
AUGUST 11: Ms Dugdale makes a wide-ranging education speech, having put the issue at the heart of her campaign.
AUGUST 14: Ballot closes.
AUGUST 15: Result announced.
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