Scotland’s only Labour MP has confirmed he will stand for deputy leader of the party.
Ian Murray, the MP for Edinburgh South, won his seat with a majority of more than 11,000 and was the only Labour MP to win a seat.
In his piece he wrote: “I never again want to feel like I did at 10pm on the night of the general election.”
The former shadow Scottish secretary becomes the sixth candidate to declare in the contest and will stand against shadow sport minister Rosena Allin-Khan, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, shadow equalities secretary Dawn Butler and shadow Europe minister Khalid Mahmood.
In an exclusive article written for The Mirror, the former shadow Scottish secretary said: “I’m standing to be deputy leader of the Labour Party because I want to help us win power to transform lives.
READ MORE: Ian Murray ‘exploring the possibilities’ of running for deputy Labour leader
“Growing up on the Wester Hailes council estate in Edinburgh, the Tory Government believed families like ours didn’t deserve support. But my mum and my teachers told me and my brother there was nothing we couldn’t achieve.
“I want that hope and aspiration for every child. That’s what the Labour Party can deliver when it’s in power.
“The architects of the party’s catastrophic failure in 2019 cannot be allowed to be the architects of the response.
“The next leadership team must turn us into an election-winning machine that uses the skills and talents of all our members and supporters to succeed.
“The Labour Party must change. We must be honest with ourselves so we can be honest with the voters.
“Looking to the past will only prolong our years in the wilderness and put our country at risk.
“We must become a credible alternative government of the future, not a protest movement of the past.
READ MORE: Labour's Ian Murray says he could run as an independent if he is deselected
“That’s how we lift millions of children, families, and pensioners out of poverty again.”
He vowed to put Scotland's voice at the top of the party agenda to once again return Labour into "an election-winning machine" saying: “We must listen to and reconnect with voters in the seats we lost, as well as those who abandoned us in the seats we hold. We must also listen to those in seats we will never win and build our response from there.
“With Scotland’s voice at the top of the party, we can send a strong message that we are listening to all the nations and regions, and that the entire party can learn from Scotland where populist nationalism had its first victory in the UK.
"We must become a credible alternative government of the future, not a protest movement of the past.
"That’s how we lift millions of children, families, and pensioners out of poverty again.
"This is just the start of this debate for me. As my hero, former Labour Leader John Smith, famously said, ‘all I ask is the opportunity to serve’."
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