New Scottish Labour leader to be announced

Scottish Labour is to announce the result of its leadership contest on Saturday.

It comes after a contest between MSPs Michael Marra and Joe Fagan, both of whom are vying to succeed Anas Sarwar.

He stood down from the post in July this year, saying afterwards it was the “hardest job in British politics”.

The new leader takes charge after the party suffered its worst result in the history of devolution in May’s Scottish Parliament elections – returning just 17 MSPs.

Anas Sarwar had originally pledged to stay as Scottish Labour leader following May’s Holyrood election defeat, but quit the post to join Andy Burnham’s government. (Jane Barlow/PA)

While the now Lord Sarwar had originally vowed to stay on in the post in the wake of that defeat, he quit Holyrood in July to join the House of Lords, becoming a trade minister in new Prime Minister’s Andy Burnham’s Government.

That appointment came after the then Scottish Labour leader became the first senior figure in the party to publicly call for Mr Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer to resign as prime minister.

Whoever succeeds him will be Scottish Labour’s 11th leader of the devolution era, excluding those who have held the post on an interim basis.

Voting in the contest opened on August 28, with Mr Fagan and Mr Marra taking part in a series of hustings across the country in a bid to woo party members.

After the ballot closed on Thursday, the result of the contest is due to be announced in Edinburgh later on Saturday morning.