Kezia Dugdale has been elected as the new leader of Scottish Labour, telling supporters: "We are down, but we are not out."
The
MSP got the job following the resignation of Jim Murphy in June, after
Labour lost all but one of its 41 Scottish seats at the general
election.
Ms Dugdale vowed to work "night and day" to reverse the party's fortunes.
Labour MSP Alex Rowley, a former aide to Gordon Brown, was elected as the party's new deputy leader.
Ms Dugdale saw off a challenge from Ken Macintosh for the leadership, winning the contest with 72% of the vote.
About
15,000 party members and 6,000 affiliated and registered members were
entitled to take part in the ballot, which was held under a new
one-person-one-vote system. Labour did not reveal the numbers who
actually voted.
Ms Dudgale, who previously served as deputy leader
under Mr Murphy, faces her first big test in the Scottish Parliament
election next May, where a surging SNP is seeking a third term in
office.
Appealing to voters while speaking in Stirling, the Lothian MSP said: "Take another look at the Scottish Labour party.
"I
am not so presumptuous to ask instantly for your vote. But at the
recent election 700,000 of you stuck with us but many chose someone
else.
"All I ask is that you take a fresh look at the Scottish Labour party under my leadership."
Analysis by Andrew Black, BBC Scotland political reporter
Scottish Labour has elected its eighth leader in 15 years.
But Kezia Dugdale's victory celebration will be short-lived. Her party is now in a fight for its very existence.
Ms
Dugdale's first big challenge will be the Scottish Parliament election -
less than nine months away. But right now, it's simply not possible to
see how the party can win it.
Labour is one of those parties which
hasn't in the past always taken kindly to losers in its senior ranks
(Ms Dugdale's predecessor Jim Murphy lasted six months).
But party chiefs have made clear Scottish Labour must now be in it for the long haul.
That
essentially means a move away from calls for yet another leader if next
May's Holyrood poll produces a repeat of the recent UK election result,
in which Labour lost all but one of its 41 Scottish seats.
Ms
Dugdale's plan to rebuild the party centres on her - at the age of 33
and with just four years as an MSP - leading the charge of a new
generation of Labour activists, while moving away from Scottish Labour
giants of the past, such as Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and the like.
At
the same time she needs to fix the problem which has dogged Scottish
Labour for the past eight years - namely that voters stopped listening
to the party because they didn't know what it stood for anymore.
Basically, Kezia Dugdale has just taken on one of the toughest jobs in politics. Ms Dugdale added: "We are changing. I am part of a new generation. Someone without the baggage of the past."
The
new Scottish Labour leader also told gathered members of the party
faithful: "I will work night and day over the coming weeks and months to
make you proud, to honour that trust that you have put in me today, to
give you some hope to renew your faith in our abilities to transform the
communities that we seek to serve."
She added: "I want to
transform this country - to shake it up profoundly, so that the life
chances of a child born today aren't determined by how much their
parents earn but by their potential, by their work ethic and by their
ambition."
New Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale and
deputy leader Alex Rowley after the announcement at the Stirling Court
Hotel
Kezia Dugdale
Alex Rowley
Age: 33
Age: 51
Education: University of Aberdeen and University of Edinburgh.
Education: University of Edinburgh.
Politics: Elected to Holyrood as a Lothian list MSP in 2011. In 2014 she was elected deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
Politics: Elected MSP for Cowdenbeath in January 2014 by-election.
Former leader of Fife Council and one-time aide to Gordon Brown.
Before politics: From 2007 to 2011 she worked as office manager and political adviser to Labour list MSP George Foulkes.
Before politics: Worked as a council gardener.
Mr Rowley, who stood for deputy leader against
Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson and MSP Richard Baker, took
the job on the second round of voting.
The Fife MSP, who won a
by-election to take the Cowdenbeath seat in January last year, said: "I
grew up in the mining village of Kelty. As I grew up it was quite clear
that the Labour party was the party of working people."
He added:
"Labour must unite across Scotland to tackle inequality, poverty and
create employment."The SNP's Derek Mackay congratulated Ms Dugdale and
Mr Rowley on their success, but said a change of leadership alone would
not solve "the deep, deep problems which the Labour Party in Scotland
now faces".
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said that
while Labour was reforming itself, her party would be the "principled
opposition, holding the SNP government to account and giving a voice in
Holyrood to the two million Scots who voted 'No' in the referendum".
Patrick
Harvie, of the Scottish Greens, added: "There doesn't seem to be much
chance of Kezia's party being able to connect with voters in time for
the Holyrood election in May."
The results
Leader:
Kezia Dugdale: 72.1% of the total vote
Ken Macintosh: 27.9% of the total vote Deputy leader Round one
Alex Rowley: 37.4% of the total vote
Gordon Matheson: 32.2% of the total vote
Richard Baker: 30.4% of the total vote
(Richard Baker eliminated after receiving the least votes) Round two after transferral of votes
Alex Rowley: 55.5% of the total vote
Gordon Matheson: 44.5% of the total vote
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