Three candidates have declared for the Scottish Labour leadership: Michael Marra, Joe Fagan and Monica Lennon 1. Joe Fagan is the MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) for South Scotland and a former leader of South Lanarkshire Council. Marra sits for North East Scotland, Lennon for the Glasgow region. Nominations opened on 3 August to replace Anas Sarwar .
Declaring a candidacy does not put a name on the ballot. Nominations close at 10:00 on Monday 17 August, and a candidate reaches the ballot only with three MSPs, three Members of Parliament and three affiliated organisations behind them, two of which must be trade unions 2. Nine endorsements from three distinct constituencies is a high bar for a Holyrood group of 17. If a candidate clears it, members vote from 28 August to 17 September and the result comes on 19 September 3.
A threshold of that shape hands the first decision to elected members and union officials rather than to the party's membership. No member votes on who passes it, and by the time the ballot opens the field is already settled. Labour built the rule to filter out candidates without institutional support, which works exactly as designed and is the point of complaint against it.
Whoever wins takes on a constitutional position fixed elsewhere. Andy Burnham told Scottish Labour's Members of Parliament on 7 July that no Section 30 order would be granted , the instrument that would let Holyrood hold a second independence referendum lawfully. The new leader must argue the union case in Scotland from a decision taken for them at Westminster, which leaves delivery and party management as the ground the contest can actually be fought on.
