Joe Fagan announces intention to run in Labour leadership election

Joe Fagan has announced that he will run in Scottish Labour’s leadership race.

Elected as an MSP in May, Fagan has said that Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s by-election win in Makerfield showed that the party can “win back trust” when it is “serious about changing people’s lives”.  

In June, Fagan was shortlisted for the One to Watch award at Holyrood’s annual Garden Party and Political Awards.

He is the third person to join the leadership race after Michael Marra and Monica Lennon, who is expected to become an MSP again after summer recess following Anas Sarwar’s decision to join the House of Lords last week.

Sarwar's move to the Lords cleared the way for the former Scottish Labour leader to take a new role in Burnham’s government as Minister of State for Trade.  

Fagan currently serves as the party’s public finance and local government spokesperson at Holyrood.  

Before his election to Holyrood in May, he led South Lanarkshire Council for four years.  

He is highly regarded within the Scottish Labour ranks and has been dubbed “the Jackie Baillie candidate”.

Announcing he will run for the leadership of the party, he said: “Scottish Labour needs to learn lessons from where we have won, not just where we have lost.

“Andy Burnham's by-election victory in Makerfield and our own successes in South Lanarkshire show that Labour can win back trust when we are rooted in communities and serious about changing people's lives.

“The lesson is simple: people will listen to Scottish Labour again when we stop sounding like a party talking to itself and start proving that we are on their side.”

Highlighting pay deals for the home care workforce and free swimming lessons for under-16s during his time as leader of South Lanarkshire Council, he said he is “not here to wait around”, and he is “here to get things done”.