Scottish Labour must change its rules to give new faces a chance of becoming MSPs at the next Holyrood election, leadership hopeful Kezia Dugdale has said.
The deputy leader threw her weight behind moves to open up selections for the party's regional candidate lists, which could offer the party its only chance of winning seats in parts of Scotland.
In an interview, Ms Dugdale - herself regional MSP for Lothian - said: "I want to see new people come forward and stand for Labour, people from all corners of Scotland, all walks of life.
"It is not in any sense criticising colleagues or trying to give former MPs another chance to be in politics. It is about bringing new people in."
She said Labour should try to emulate the SNP, which has promoted new members quickly.
Among the 56 SNP MPs elected earlier this month, one, Tommy Sheppard, the comedy club boss and former Labour stalwart, has only been a member of the party since September.
Under Scottish Labour's present rules, regional MSPs elected in 2011 have their places on the candidate lists protected.
The party is considering changing the rule.
Ms Dugdale spoke out as Henry McLeish, the former first minister, urged the party to address claims of bullying and intimidation made by her leadership rival Ken Macintosh.
The Eastwood MSP complained at the weekend his supporters were being put under pressure by the "party machine" to withdraw their backing, in an effort to avoid a contest to succeed departing leader Jim Murphy.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Mr McLeish said: "I think people have lost trust in us and we need to work hard to fight it back.
"But I think what struck me was, and I don't know whether the allegations that Ken Macintosh is saying are true or false, when you use words like bullied and intimidated and pressurised these are serious concerns."
"My main concern is for the Labour Party, this is not the way we should be conducting business, but to be fair to Ken Macintosh, if there are serious issues that have to be dealt with, then clearly the party in Scotland, the party machine as he calls it, has to have a look at what's going on."
Writing in The Herald today, Frank McAveety, the former Labour MSP and now a Glasgow councillor, said the party must become more active in grassroots community campaigning if its is to rebuild after its crushing election defeat to the SNP.
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