Proud Dundonian
“Dundee is my heart and my soul,” Marra told reporters shortly after he was announced as the party’s leader. “It’s where my politics comes from in the first instance, it’s the people and place I understand most in my life.”
Working with Andy Burnham
“I’m looking forward to welcoming Andy Burnham to Scotland time and again over the coming year,” Marra said today. “It’s important he builds his relationship with Scotland over the coming months, but our relationship is critical to making sure we deliver results in the general election, when it comes. I will always put Scotland first, and that’s what I will be putting to him.”
North Sea oil and gas
“We need to make sure we are building an agenda that makes Scotland stronger – and that does include issues on energy policy, which I’ve been very clear about for a long period of time. We need to have a more rational policy decision, that delivers for the Scottish economy and Scottish jobs.”
Asked if he supported the proposed Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas developments, Marra added: “I want them to be approved, I do.”
Scottish independence
“The people of Scotland do not want a referendum right now. And I say that not just on the basis of all the opinion polls – which are absolutely clear that’s the case – but also the conversations I’ve been having right across the country. I’ve been campaigning across Scotland without stop for the last 10 months now, and it’s clear to me that’s the case.
“We’ll continue to make the case for a stronger Scotland in a changing UK. I’m not in this for the status quo. I’m in this to achieve a stronger Scotland.”
Labour’s path to power
“I’ve always had a long-term frustration that the Labour party ends up in every Holyrood election thinking that we can form a government by some kind of narrow path. If you can’t win seats everywhere in Scotland, you cannot form a government. So it’s a long-term frustration of mine, that we ended up back in that position in May, trying to follow a narrow path.”
“We’re not big enough to have factions. As Scotland’s challenges have got bigger, the Labour party has got smaller. We need to regain momentum, scale, size and ambitions for the country.”
Swinney’s plans to reform the public sector
Asked if he would oppose compulsory redundancies in the Scottish public sector, as the SNP Government tries to plug a £5 billion blackhole in its finances, Marra said: “Yes, I will.
“But it’s difficult for me to see how the Scottish Government gets to, to where they say they are going to get to, without taking those kinds of actions. I am against it. But it is a signal of the catastrophic mess the SNP has made on the public finances. I have been talking about this for years, the situation where we are headed to. They are not getting a grip on the public finances. All the independent forecasters are warning it could be even worse, because they have no taken action. We are coming up a real crunch.”
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