Stiff test lies ahead

It was a coronation, not an election. In keeping with the manner of her seamless elevation to the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party, all but ratified yesterday when she was confirmed as the sole nominee to succeed Jack McConnell, Wendy Alexander will tour Scotland with an ear to the ground, rather than a megaphone. The hearts, minds and votes she must win are the Scottish public's. Those of her party are in the bag. She will not officially become leader until September 14, when Labour MSPs and the executive meet to hand her the party crown. Or will it turn out to be a poisoned chalice?

As Gerry Hassan pointed out in The Herald yesterday, Ms Alexander is the fourth Labour leader in the reconvened Scottish Parliament's history, none of whom has been elected with a proper contest. The lack of any challenger, far less a substantive one, to Ms Alexander has not only denied Labour's grassroots a say in the new leader; more importantly, it has closed the door on the wider public having an opportunity to listen in on a debate about the party's future direction. On both counts this is regrettable as democracy can thrive only when the public feels fully engaged in its processes, whether at party or government level.

Now that she no longer needs to campaign over the next three weeks or so for the top job, Ms Alexander can use the time to get to know the electorate. This she plans to do with a tour of Scotland. She has identified four policy areas where she wants to make a mark as a reformer by laying out proposals in the weeks ahead to deliver a competitive yet compassionate economy; consumer-focused public services; empowered people and communities; and Scottish solutions for Scottish aspirations. In addition, she plans to reform the party to reverse the decline in membership and make it more electable.

If she thought her workload as a minister under Mr McConnell was excessive (she did, because she resigned from his government) she might not have seen anything yet. As leader of the biggest opposition party, she must hold to account an SNP executive led by a popular First Minister, Alex Salmond, who has reinvented himself, managing in the process to cast off a reputation for arrogance (though not all voters are convinced). He is Ms Alexander's intellectual equal but can reach out to speak to the layman and woman in a way that, thus far, has eluded Ms Alexander.

She has many challenges to rise to, not the least of which could be the risk of alienating public service workers, many of whom are Labour rank-and-file supporters, should her desire to make the public sector put the consumer first, not the producer, result in reform that was, in their eyes, unpalatable. Also, how far will she be prepared to go to advance Scottish solutions with the Prime Minister, to whom she has been close? Will she dust down an old pet policy, fiscal autonomy, to demonstrate credentials as a supporter of more powers for Holyrood, knowing it was anathema to Gordon Brown's Treasury?

Ms Alexander is different from her three predecessors in one fundamental regard. They led a party in power. She will lead a party badly bruised by an electoral defeat that knocked it from the number one perch it had held in Scotland for some 50 years, in terms of votes and seats. Ms Alexander has many qualities. They will be tested to the full in an uncertain constitutional landscape as she strives to make Labour electable again.