Michael Marra, a leading candidate to become the next leader of Scottish Labour, has acknowledged that the party faces "systemic" problems and proposed new taxes on families and large businesses to address funding challenges. Marra is competing against Joe Fagan to succeed Anas Sarwar, who departed for the House of Lords after the party's poor performance in recent elections.
In a speech in Glasgow, Marra stated that dissatisfaction with UK Labour leader Keir Starmer had left the Scottish party vulnerable. He described the party's issues as interconnected, involving its leadership, rules, organization, messaging, and policies. "Devolution created a new political arena and Scotland changed, work changed, communities changed, old loyalties weakened. Scotland’s understanding of itself changed – but we didn’t," Marra said.
Marra outlined a vision for an economy that redistributes power, wealth, and opportunity, emphasizing that "the wealthiest and the big corporations" should "pay their fair share." While he did not specify who would bear increased tax burdens, he expressed openness to discussions about alternatives to council tax and the introduction of a wealth tax. He also defended his previous proposal for a windfall tax on supermarkets, suggesting that large businesses benefited from minimum unit pricing on alcohol and should contribute more.
Addressing criticism of his supermarket windfall tax proposal, Marra stated, "it doesn’t surprise me that big business thinks they should keep the money they got from the windfall." He also confirmed that under his leadership, Scottish Labour would not support a proposed food price cap, arguing it would be ineffective and lead to higher prices.
Marra also reaffirmed his past comments telling Prime Minister Andy Burnham to "shut up." He explained that his remarks stemmed from frustration that Scotland's interests were being overlooked amid discussions about UK leadership. "I will continue to make the case to Andy, to anybody else in the UK Cabinet, that the interests of Scotland for me come first. First every time," he asserted.
Meanwhile, fellow leadership candidate Joe Fagan called on the Scottish Government to increase funding for social care, rejecting planned cuts. Fagan supported a call from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) for an additional £750 million for social care, stressing that this must be new funding not offset by reductions elsewhere in local government budgets.
A Scottish Government spokesperson noted that councils received record funding of nearly £15.7 billion in the 2026/27 budget, with further negotiations planned with Cosla regarding future local government finance settlements. The spokesperson added that decisions on future funding would be part of future Scottish budget outcomes.